What's the answer?

holley79 wrote: As we are all seeing and feeling at the gas pumps, what is the answer to the inevitable? Are we really going to see 10.00 a gallon as they are predicting? How are we going to be able to get to work? Gas prices are going up and the economy is going to pot. What are YOU doing to help not feel the strain so much?

Boo&BugsMom replied: For us, it has really helped to find a job a lot closer to home. Instead of driving more than 20 minutes each way, every day...it now only takes me 7-8 minutes (on a heavy traffic day) to get to work. Luckily it only takes Troy about 10 minutes as well.

I try to get grocery shopping and errands done on the same day(s), instead of doing a little here and a little there. Little trips are always necessary, but I can cut them down by doing most errands at the same time.

Crystalina replied: It's hard for us to do anything but complain about it. We live out in the middle of nowhere (20 minutes to get anywhere) and we have SUVs. We try to make less trips to town but we're bad at that.

::ETA::

We not only get the gas but also the diesel prices. DH has actually parked one of his trucks and has been driving for another man because the loads just don't pay enough after you have to fill the tanks.

holley79 replied: Well unfortunately DH and I both have a 22 mile one way trip. We have parked the Dodge and he is driving the 4 cyl jeep. I am driving my 4 cyl van. We don't go anywhere extra. One trip for errands a week, no hard accelerations, just little stuff.

DillsMommy replied: DH started riding to work with a friend, he has about a 30 min drive (one way ) Not sure how long that will last since it means getting up at 5:30 am. He's also trying to talk me into trading in my jeep to get something a little better on gas. I really don't want to though. Unless I absolutely have to. Other than that, there really isn't a whole lot we can do.....

gr33n3y3z replied: We will not see 10.00 here
If it gets that bad they /someone should go and take care of the Oil ppl. and the compnies CEO's
Its all bc the ppl. in the oil/gas field doesnt have 100% control any more
Poor babies get over it

TheOaf66 replied: well we don't have gas guzzling vehicles but I plan to start riding my motorcycle more especially in summer when I don't have to pick up Tanner from school.

If I didn't work on such a busy road I would ride my bicycle to work.

coasterqueen replied: We really haven't done much to ease our pocket on gas prices except we now ride together to work whenever we can. Dh switched his hours to make it possible. We still have to ride seperate some days if one of us is traveling or if we have appointments, etc. We really haven't stopped running a lot of errands. We do live in the country so it's a ways to most places. I have a minivan and Dh did have a gas saver neon, but now he has a gas guzzling truck.

We still have to mow the lawn at least once or twice a week, which is $10 every time we mow.

Crystalina replied:
I didn't even think of that expense! We mow 4 acres. I'm thinking this year we'll have more added to our hay field.

lovemy2 replied: I think you will see alot more employers become alot more open to telecommuting as well - I know that will be my next step to only come into the office three days a week instead of four -

We also have vehicles that are good on gas - I drive a Grand Caravan and DH a Taurus - we could ride together on some days - my company would allow me to change my hours but not everyday - BUT - that would mean my Mom would have to come over a WHOLE lot earlier in the am and I don't want her to do that....so for now we consolidate trips, etc.

Its getting to be an ugly ugly world out there financially - the only thing that makes me feel better is that we aren't the only ones who struggle and have things like this affect us... in other words - misery loves company

coasterqueen replied:
Yep. We have 3.5 acres of land and about 2 of that is mowable. It's terrible thinking about spending $20 a week to mow the lawn.

MommyToAshley replied: Even working from home, we seem to do a lot of driving. I do take Ashley to school and back instead of letting her ride the bus. But, that's not something I am willing to cut back on.

I will be trading my car in soon and I will be getting either a Hybrid or a car that has really good gas mileage. I had wanted a minivan but thanks to the oil company's greed, I have to change my lifestyle.

I just don't get it... we have the technology to do electric cars. Heck, there was even a hydro engine that worked on steam. Isreal is going to be all electric cars by the year 2010. That's two years from now... if they can do it, why can't we???!!! I just get more and more furious the more I think about it.

na81 replied: Gas here just went up to $3.99/gallon yesterday so we are going to start driving our car instead of the Tahoe unless we need to. Fortunately SO drives a company truck and I don't have to go to town but once or twice a week. The other thing that saves us is that we live right behind a store so now that the weather is nice we can walk!!! I don't know, I really didn't think I would see the day gas went over $3/gallon considering it was $1.19 when I got my license!!!!

Our Lil' Family replied: DH will start his new job soon driving about 60 miles a day. In his gas guzzling Jeep that's about $16 a day just to get to and from work. Here's where we're torn....do we try to find a cheap yet reliable used car that gets 30 miles/gallon and have to pay more in insurance and upkeep, not to mention the $ to buy the thing. Will that make us come out ahead or just break even? I know eventually we'd come out ahead that way but then that car will need tires, just like his Jeep does now. We'll have 3 vehicles to register each year, inspect, change the oil on....so would that really benefit us...probably not. So basically we're just SOL and have to suck up the prices.

Thankfully I stay home. I might drive into the city 2 times a week, on a busy week. Grocery, bank, post office, pharmacy is all less than 5 miles....but for things like Target or the mall I have to drive about 15 miles. So I basically feel like I'm on house arrest.

edited to correct my math...since gas is now just about $4/gallon

Danalana replied: I'm going to invent a poopoo-powered engine. We have lots of that around here! I just have to find a way to work around the smell, I guess...

coasterqueen replied:
Well, since you are asking in all reality IF you really wanted to save on gas he could just get rid of the jeep. Does he really need it? Of course it may be something he wants, but he would need to weigh what is more important. Saving money on gas/budget or keeping a car that he likes. KWIM?

I say that because we weighed options similar to that. Dh was going to buy a smaller newer car that got good gas mileage - this was to replace the old good gas mileage neon that was in bad shape. I knew he would not be happy with some rinky dink car and so we determined that paying more for gas would be worth it to us. Of course that's not very "green" of me I know, but I won't be green on everything in my life.

Our Lil' Family replied: Getting rid of the Jeep is not an option....it's his hobby and I'd NEVER ask him to or even let him get rid of it. It's paid for so it's just the insurance and upkeep on it....which would be less if it wasn't his daily driver....we're still weighing our options but I'm not in favor of a 3rd vehicle at this point.

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
Dave Ramsey says it's more logical to keep the car you have. Gas is less expensive than upkeep on another car. Unless you sell the Jeep (hahaha, right?) and pay cash for a more fuel efficient, reliable car (like Honda or Toyota) something that will hold it's value.

holley79 replied: Well Shawn and I both have been looking at Smart Cars. They are small and looking at the gas mileage it's not THAT much better then my van. I am getting 22-28, the smart car gets more but then you have higher insurance costs and the car note. Not to mention there isn't a dealership here so to get it fixed I would have to go to Houston.

HuskerMom replied:
That's a good idea! I've got 2 in diapers so I've got more than enough!

We really can't complain much. Dh carpools with his dad to work and I don't drive very much. I think I maybe put $20 in gas in the car every 2 weeks.

With the gas prices the way they are it makes me think of when I first started driving. When I was in highschool it was between .80 - 1.00 a gal. I used to drive around for hours with my friends, definetly wouldn't be able to do that now!

A&A'smommy replied: OH goodness this suck so bad I absolutley HATE buying gas.. thank goodness I'm almost done being pregnant and then I wont be driving so much and probably not hardly at all after Autumn is born at least not until I get use to dealing with two instead of 1. We are also looking into getting me a car (or maybe him) with better gas mileage

redchief replied: I have a city owned vehicle, but even with that I still try to plan my inspection routes so that there is less waste. After all, I'm still a taxpayer.

That's another thing... have we thought about the overall consequences of these higher fuel prices beyond the pumps? Trash still needs to be picked up. The plumber still hasn't figured out how to take his services to your house without his truck. Police still need to patrol the streets. Higher fuel prices are going to hit us in a lot of places we haven't even thought about.

moped replied: I don't know the conversion from US/CAD, but it is $1.30/litre here, I think that converts to well over $4/gallon and Tom jsut said it is actually over $5. I live in the suburbs, but have everything I need fairly close by - the car I just bought has great mileage so that is ok but the Trail Blazer is a gas hog - but Tom works from home. Many days neither of us go anywhere, or I walk with the kids........

I guess I am not changing too much right now

When I work I carpool with a freind

Celestrina replied:
I've heard that things in Hawaii are outrageously priced because everything has to be flown in.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Gas is over $4 here, so I'm feeling it big time. Now I don't drive that much though, so that helps our family. And everything is relatively close by. DH on the other hand is driving back and forth to the ranch (work), which is 35 miles each way from home. So that hurts. But he has a small Saab that is pretty good on gas. What's hurting us most is his new company isn't paying his gas and car expenses like the last one did. That's tough to have to work into the budget, especially since we were only paying to fill my car before.

5littleladies replied: Well luckily for us everything we really need is close by. Jas works about a mile away, I stay at home so that isn't an issue, and the girls and I can walk or bike pretty much anywhere we need to go. Parks, grocery store, library, pool are all within about 8-10 blocks from our house. We don't plan to do any extra-curriculars this summer (sports, dance, etc.) so that saves us money from every angle, driving included. We are blessed to live in such a great community-there is tons of stuff for us to do with no need to drive.

sheena22 replied: good for you. you get to save a lot from biking and walking. it's good exercise too. the rest of us who can't do the same will just have to pay for gas or simply take the bus.

my2monkeyboys replied: JMO, but I am not angry at the oil companies for making money. That's what they are in business to do. It's also not their responsibility to come up with another way to make cars run - they are in the OIL business. It would be like getting angry at Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey for not giving us all a little bit of their money, just bc they have plenty.

I think the gas prices will lead to other people coming up with more ideas for less oil-dependent cars. The problem then will be that most people won't be able to afford a new car. That's where our govt could step in and give us huge tax credits for purchasing those cars, there by making it much more likely for folks like myself to be able to afford them.
Also, with each new "fuel" they come up with, you have to weigh the costs associated with it. Like with corn, by using the corn the farmers grow for fuel, it would raise the price of corn (to eat) to astronomical prices. I know, eating corn isn't the most important thing, but that's just an example.
On a side note, though, I've yet to see one of those hybrids that is at all appealing to me, so until I literally can't afford to put gas in the jeep I'll just stick with what I have.

Bamamom replied: I saw a report yesterday with the mayor of Chicago. He said that every time gas goes up 1 cent it adds $30,000 to his yearly budget. For me that really put it in perspective.

Brias3 replied: I'm really trying to cut down on driving in general. I drive an SUV and we're at just over $4/gallon here, so I'm feeling it big time. The kids' school and the grocery store and Target are all in close proximity, so that's not a huge problem- I'm just working on mainly cutting down on the drive-around-all-day kind of errand days and also going to further stores less frequently. We're about 45 minutes from the airport too, so I've cut off picking up DH alot of the time. He's in and out of town on business at least 5 times a month and we ALWAYS used to pick him up (and drop him off sometimes) but driving to the airport 2x per week is just not necessary anymore- cheaper for him to just hail a cab!

We've been looking into hybrids and they do feature a hybrid SUV in my current make and model. It's just price-wise its really up there, yet I'm not really willing to sacrifice the space I have now.