Interest rates & gas prices up?

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Interest rates & gas prices up?
15
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 1:22am
Hi, Danni and Shannon, and Heather and everyone :) I look to your help on this. Is it my imagination, or is everything rising faster than yeast? I was on vac for 2.5 wks, and came back to a stack (mountain) of bills. Got the cc bills. OMG! The Sears card is at 21%interest. (owe about $450 on it--DH has locked the cards away). Girlfriends, this is insane! Once again, how do you close the Discover Card, and go with one of the O% interest? Have any of you done this? Did you go with interest of 0% for life of what you owe, or for one yr? My payment on the Discover increased from $125 to $150/month! It seems to me if you pay more, they want more. Example: I have been snowflaking :) and rounding up my payments each month. So, paid more on the one lab bill. Now, they want more minimum due than last month. Go figure. I snowflaked them an extra $50. Gas is now at 2.89, and sometimes 3.0l per gallon. What websites have you gone to to research gas prices? Have you cut back on other things because of it? SOrry for so many questions, but am curious if others have done the 0% thing and what you are doing for gas prices. THanks. WHiz.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2005
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 5:25am

I know this is only a small consolation but in Germany gas prices have gone up to 1,25 Euro per liter for regular. That is 5 Euros a gallon, which is $6,15 a gallon. :)

Sushi

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 7:33am

I saw a poll on CNN the other day about people's reactions to gas prices. 10% responding that they are going into (or further into) debt as a result. What they didn't include as a choice was cutting back on your gas consumption which I found interesting. That's what I've been doing-we'll be making fewer trips to a nearby amusement park where we have season passes and to visit family. Once it cools off a little I'll start walking to pick up DD and I group errands as much as possible.

Taleyna

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2005
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 7:47am

I found it intersting, i was talking to my parents about this when i went to visit yesterday, and my mom said she doesn't feel bad for us as a society we have become so ridiculous with our huge cars that eat enormous amts. of gas, just to keep up with the jones's alot of the time. .... maybe this will force us to step back and take a look at what we are doing. Everywhere i look now, everyone has a minivan or suv, and i hope not to offend anyone, but why in the world does a mom need a HUMMER to drive her kids around and for running errands. I just don't get that one. Maybe it's time for a change??

Shannon

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-18-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 9:16am

Shannon, you didn't offend me, however, the reason I have a minivan is because I have three kids. We also have a Surburban. We did have a Subaru (which I loved) but had to give that up when #3 was born. Because DH is in the Army we move a lot and family lives pretty far away. In order to visit them (for some reason they can never visit us), we have to drive long distances and the minivan didn't offer us the room for storage we needed once you put 2 adults, 3 kids, a double stroller, a playpen and a dog in it. Believe me, I would much rather have a Subaru than a Surburban, but you can't get three car seats in them. The Surburan stays parked most of the time and DH rides his bike to work. I walk DD to school and only go to the grocery store every 4 days (that's how quickly we go through milk around here).

However, I do agree. I just don't understand the need for Hummers for a family of three. We don't need big SUVs to run errands (especially if we do them while our kids are in school).

Sushi, yes it does make me feel better to know that gas prices are that high in Germany as opposed to the US, however, you have many more taxes on your gas than we do and public transportation is more readily available. When we lived in Germany we took buses and stassenbahns (streetcars for the Americans) everywhere. If we went to a town that didn't have convinent train access, we would drive to the town and park and take the town's buses. That to me was the best part of living there. Oh how I miss it.

Hope I haven't ruffled any feathers. JMHOs.

Kellie

Avatar for mquin73
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 9:59am

Huge hugs Whiz. I totally understand where you are coming from. The only way we got rid of our Discover balances was b/c we got approved for an unsecured loan through our bank. And right now both of those accounts are still open and I actually had them transfer one of dh's card balances to my Discover b/c they offered me a .90% rate until April 2006, with no transfer fees. My dh's we are keeping open for now b/c we have a rental house that our renters just moved out of and we have no money in savings to pay the mortgage and we're gonna have to do that for Sept, plus we are currently having some problems with the house. It's a never ending cycle.

As for gas, I sure wish I had some words of wisdom about that. It's ridiculous. Thankfully we only have one car to fill up now and dh uses it most of the time for work, he only drives a couple miles to work each day. And when I have to run errands I figure out all what I need to do and then plan my route so as to not waste gas.

Michelle


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Avatar for mquin73
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 10:07am

I agree with you Kellie regarding the minivan/SUV issue, but I also don't understand those that just have to have a HUMMER. IMO, they are ugly anyway. They are supposed to be used as military vehicles not luxury vehicles. lol Crazy!! Anyway, we have an SUV as well, a Blazer, and when my dh returns from being deployed we are getting a Suburban. We have 2 kids currently, have been trying for another one for the past year (hoping it will happen soon), and even though it's a little better driving home with the room, the kids are getting a little older and need the space. A suburban will help with that. We don't really fly when we go anywhere, we always drive so we need the extra room.

Michelle


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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2005
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 10:36am

Yeah, the Bus and the Straßenbahn is great, if you do it every once in a while. I don't have a car and am dependent on that. A trip to my Mother, who lives on the other end of town takes about 1 hour for me one way. I wished I had a car. The public transportation system is great, but if I want to take a trip to the mountains it takes major planning if I take a train. If we had a car, we'd just hop in, when we feel like going and 1 hour later we are in Füssen (where the disney castle is, you know, Neuschwanstein). So it all has its ups and downs. Not to mention going grocery shopping and having to drag your groceries home.... :)

Sushi

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 11:30am
Hey, Sushi--What do they drive in Germany? Is that why there are small cars there? Read somewhere that in oil-rich countries (Saudi Arabia), gas is cheap--98cents/gallon. Whiz.
Avatar for gidgetgirl
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 11:32am

"my mom said she doesn't feel bad for us as a society we have become so ridiculous with our huge cars that eat enormous amts. of gas, just to keep up with the jones's alot of the time"

Yep, I find that as well. Granted that Europeans have a MUCH better public transportation system, but their cars are much more fuel efficient (and smaller) because of the financial need to be. People adjust! And far too many use such vehicles as a status symbol.

I wouldn't put SUVs and minivans in the same catagory though- minivans are much more fuel efficient. I wonder how efficient our old station wagon was when I was growing up? I know it was an '81 and wasn't a gas hog. But then station wagons aren't "cool", going back to the status symbol...

Rereading this message, I sound like the opposite of my usual political leanings- LOL!!! Guess my frugal, not being that far removed from my previous paycheck to paycheck single-mom existence overrides it, huh?

Gidget- glad to have my boring, tiny 32+ mpg Chevy Prizm

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2004
Fri, 08-26-2005 - 11:35am
Hi, SHannon. I agree 100%. We are a nation of cars. Do you really think people carpool? Some folks do bike and take trolley or subway, but what if you have to drive 50+ miles to work, or work in marketing? Or home health nursing? In the 70's during the oil embargo and long lines at the pump, we did not have the efficiency of 30 mpg and emission controls that we do today. Still---it makes me pause when I see those cars as big as Army tanks on the freeway. Anyone own/drive a hybrid? DH is thinking of getting one. Whiz.

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