Comments on: Ask the Reader – What are You Doing About High Gas Costs?

By: Blackneto

Blackneto — Fri, 30 May 2008 08:33:14 +0000

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.

Blacknetos last blog post..Proud Of My Girls

By: Personal Finance online

Personal Finance online — Tue, 27 May 2008 04:42:02 +0000

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.

By: Randall

Randall — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:42:51 +0000

@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).

By: Damsel

Damsel — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:13:47 +0000

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?

By: Becca

Becca — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:38:59 +0000

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.