Dubai: Three weeks ago I sold my car — a 2008, two-door, red Mitsubishi Pajero. After renewing my insurance for almost Dh5,000, I decided to work out how much my car was costing me a month, and how I could cut down my travel expenses.

Taking petrol, Salik, registration, the odd fine (not very many, I might add), maintenance and cleaning, parking, and insurance into account, I worked out that I was spending approximately Dh3,000 a month.

Then I worked out how much it would cost to catch the Metro to work every day. At around Dh8 a day from Dubai Internet City to Business Bay, it costs Dh230 a month. That's a mere 7.6 per cent of what I used to spend. Sometimes — because of the time constraints of my job — I do need to take a taxi here and there, so the costs per month rise to around Dh500 a month.

Even so, that's still only 16 per cent of what I used to spend. As soon as I worked out what I could save, and how much more travelling I could do with my savings, I advertised my car for sale.Saving money, however, hasn't been the only benefit I've found from going back to being a commuter (when I lived in London before I moved to Dubai, I never had a car and used public transport every day).

Walking shoes

On average I walk for at least 20 minutes a day, meaning that I'm doing more exercise and am hopefully on the way to shedding a few pounds. Walking much more than I used to has shown me how uncomfortable most of my shoes are though, so I've just invested in a nice new pair of supportive walking shoes. It's also reminded me about time management and planning my day effectively. I know exactly what time I need to leave the house to arrive at which destination at which time. Whereas when I had a car at hand I was more relaxed about time-keeping.

Downtime on the Metro is also a major plus. I'm an avid reader anyway, but rarely used to find the time to pick up a book. Now, I'm reading for at least 40 minutes a day — fantastically relaxing and stress-free.

That's something you can't do, driving at 100km an hour on Shaikh Zayed Road.

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