Ask the Reader – What are You Doing About High Gas Costs?
By Randall | May 23rd, 2008 | Category: Ask The Reader | 10 comments 448 views | 10 Comments » |
After the last two days of discussions between the Big Oil executives and Congress, the only thing that’s become apparent is that gas prices probably aren’t going to come down any time soon. In fact, if predictions pan out, we should be hitting $4.00/gallon prices by the end of the year. Personally, I’m betting it’s going to happen a LOT sooner than that.
This has already caused quite a bit of change in the business community.
- Ford motors curtailing car manufacturing through the end of the year and looking to lay off hundreds or thousands of employees.
- 5 different airlines have either gone out of business or gone into bankruptcy restructuring.
- Food prices are being affected through the shift of farmers growing biodiesel-capable crops and the heightened cost of transportation of goods.
- American Airlines is now charging $15 for the FIRST checked bag (undoubtedly the rest of the airlines will follow suit unless there is a huge customer backlash against AA)
I heard a statistic yesterday that grabbed my attention;
"During the Bush presidency, gasoline prices have risen almost 400%, and have risen 100% in the last 3-6 months alone."
Now that’s some scary news. With the Memorial Day weekend looming, we’re going to see gas prices cause some serious reconsideration about the family road trips being planned.
Which brings me to the question of the day;
What are you doing differently because of the high gas costs? How is your lifestyle and actions effected by this new higher-priced fuel??
Leave us a comment and let us know. Share your tips for handling the price increase with others!
I am a stay at home mom. The older kids ride the bus to school which saves on gas because I don’t have to drive to their school or sit in the carpool line idling. I also combine my errands during the week so I’m not driving a lot.
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I’ve tried not to drive as much, combine errands, and use my fiance’s car for all joint driving (I drive a Jeep, she has a car). Although they price increase doesn’t’ effect as much as some people, I strongly believe in voting with my wallet and I try to give as little to the oil industry as possible. Are the gas prices a conspiracy to get us to buy hybrid/electric cars?
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I take the train to work. It takes me between an hour and a half to two hours for what takes an hour and 15 minutes by car, but taking my Bronco on my commute (45 miles each way) would cost me $586.38 a month in fuel (at current $3.85/gallon in my area) versus my $163 a month train pass. There’s added benefits in not dealing with traffic, weather, I can use the time to read, sleep, get a head start on work.
My lifestyle hasn’t changed yet but I have started noticing the difference in my cashflow. I’m compensating by making sure I have enough money allocated for gas spending but if the prices continue to go up like this I’ll start considering public transit on days I know I won’t need my car which should cut back dramatically on usage. Its frustrating to see this because I don’t see a valid reason for oil prices to keep going up the way they are.
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Great minds think alike. I complained, er, wrote about the same thing today.
I agree with My Money Adventure in voting with my wallet. I’m trying to walk everywhere I can, which is possible, because I live in a small town. I plan my trips into the city, so I only have to go once a week.
Our public transportation isn’t that great, which is frustrating. If it were better, I might be tempted to use it. The kids would probably love it.
It hasnt affected us much, yet. My hubby drives a chevy s10 with sucky (15 mpg) gas mileage. He rides the train a lot, with his free pass from his university. I drive a Matrix with decent (30 mpg) gas mileage. I could ride the train to work, but driving to the train stop would be the same time and miles as driving to work, and riding the bus is out of the question. Plus, I currently break even with gas vs train. I could carpool with my friend who lives around the corner, but he works in a different department, and often needs to be here before me or stay late. I’m the office manager, so working overtime isnt really an option for me. We could work it out, but it would be really hard. And I need to run errands for my job, and some are planned but others just come up. So I would probably have to drive every time. Which would be ok if he paid me gas money, but I dont know that I could ask. Long story short, we are doing nothing.
I’m just relieved that I’m done for the summer (I’m a teacher) and won’t be commuting to the next town over for a couple of months. Our son is staying home with me, so we won’t be burning fuel taking him to playschool (or paying the tuition). We were going to go to Colorado to stay in my aunt and uncle’s condo (for free) for a week in July, but even driving it (from central Texas) is getting questionable. I’m changing our cashflow in that we don’t eat out, I’m clipping more coupons and have eliminated our clothing budget each month. It doesn’t help that my husband was laid off a few months ago as part of this whole crisis and took a low-paying job at a bowling center to try to make ends meet while he looks for something permanent…
Your quote is interesting to me in that it specifically targets Bush, when he’s the one who’s been pushing so hard to get us away from our dependence on foreign oil. It’s just that nobody seemed to agree with him or want to make major changes until OHMYGOSH oil hit a gazillion dollars a barrel. Seems like he might have known what he was talking about after all, huh?
@Damsel, The Bush quote wasn’t (necessarily) a shot at the president, but a frame of reference for the price increases. I’m not sure I agree that he’s been ‘pushing’ to get away from foreign oil, so much as ‘occasionally nudging’. I’ll admit I’m not a Bush fan for a gazillion reasons, but this article wasn’t a shot at his energy policies.
It’d be too easy to write articles taking shots at the President, it’s such a target-rich environment. I’m trying to stay focused on financial subjects w/o blaming particular politicians OR their policies. That quote just struck me as upsetting.
The discussion about our dependence on foreign oil has been going on since the Carter Administration, so it’s not unique to this presidency, and in all that time, no one has been able to come up with a viable alternative that didn’t cost a huge amount more (in gear-up and infrastructure costs, as with alternative fuel sources like hydrogen or fully electric vehicles) or be palatable to the general public (like restricting personal vehicle use and requiring better and more public transportation).
2 cars between me and my husband, and we drive the more fuel-efficient one whenever possible. Might even sell the 2nd vehicle and get a motorcycle instead.I drive 60mph or less on the way home, vs. 70-75.Food costs? I’ve always been a coupon clipper, now I use them even more. I always have bought store brand when there’s that option.
We have 2 vehicles. A 5 year old minivan and a 15 year old luxury sedan. with both cars we use approx 50 gallons of gas per month. Buying a new car, even a hybrid isn’t an option at this time as any car payment would just drag our budget down and we haven’t enough to pay cash.
I’m also waiting for the new technology to stabilize in cars. I’m really hoping Hydrogen in our current ICE vehicles will become the standard.
I fill up every 6 weeks, the wife every 2.
Unless we go out of town.
We haven’t made any changes yet other than trying to consolidate trips and (for me)driving a little more sanely.
I drive 3.5 miles to work. I can’t take public transportation here because it’s a joke and would take me 2 hrs to get there from the nearest bus stop. Walking isn’t much of an option either because I work nights from 10pm till 8.
The kids all walk to school. Only one has an extra curricular thing once a week.
As far as food goes. We may eat out as a family every 8 days or so, the wife and I once a week if we are out running errands.
We buy a side of beef at a time from a local farmer every 1o months or so. We get a whole hog at auction when the price is good. The same farmer raises nice meaty chickens every other year so that is taken care of too.
we don’t buy too much in bulk, but the wife keeps track of sales and whom is selling what.
Not a lot of pre processed foods.
Other than not running the AC this summer, I’m not too sure how we could reduce costs any further.
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