Gas Prices & its impact on DSG members..
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Gas Prices & its impact on DSG members..
| Tue, 04-25-2006 - 5:17pm |
With the recent spike in gas prices, I thought we could start a discussion per se on how gas prices have altered DSG members.

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over 40 and tired
over 40 and tired
Dear LVHUNNIE,
Great Question!
I have figured out that I will have to start riding the bus to work when gas hits $3.50/gal. I have to hold onto my garage parking which is expensive(long story), but I have balanced out the cost so that on certain days where I have certain requirements to be at work that I drive in, and other days I will take the bus, about half time each.
I am working on trying to rearrange the budget and make associated sacrifices so I can hang onto MY MONEY!!!!!!!!....and be able to afford gas. I have plans to cut eat out lunches at work, cut recreational spending, cut unnecessary driving, stay local for evenings out with SO.............but I am also afraid of being TRAPPED in the house, trapped by personal money shortages (yeah, I mean being BROKE!) My job is not near any shopping nor is my home, so I have to drive to do that for groceries and necessities. I am driving past a lot of shopping on my way home from work, so I need to rethink my mapping of where to go, what to do.......This will be tough for me.
Friends and family are a drive away, the farthest being 40 miles away, but I'll deal with it and at leat 40 miles isn't that bad. My cousin drives an 80 mile rouund trip every day to work and on Sundays.....that will be SO expensive. She has no public transportation options. I'm feeling lucky.
I am not giving up my computer, TV, air condtioning and washer/dryer!!!!! I have beautiful swimming pool to enjoy all summer. I'll be there!!!!
oh, my................
COUPONS COUPONS COUPONS................
WOW...........this is going to be dramatic summer, don't you think???????? I am hoping that we all learn something positive from this. I hope we all are able to deal with the challenges this summer will bring us. I hope everyone here can find a way to keep paying the debt down and get to work so we CAN keep paying them!!!!
CONSERVE!!!!!!(The new buzz-word!!!!) Littlesbigs
Ouch! It is going to be pretty bad. DH drives 40 miles each way to work. He is a college instructor, so he gets some of the summer off. He is teaching a 2 day a week class. Other summers he has borrowed my car, a 2003 Saturn VUE that gets 23 mpg. This year he is going to have to take his car, a 1998 Saturn SL2 that gets 33 mpg. In fact I may drive his car on the days that he isn't teaching. I only drive 7 miles each way to work, but hey, every little bit helps! He also just got an offer from a colleague to carpool during the 3 week pre-session class. That will help too.
We have a big driving trip planned (IL to FL 1300 miles each way), but we won't cancel. We are going to visit my Grandma who just turned 98 last week. I know we will have to increase our gas budget for the trip. I am looking at keeping our hotel costs down on the way there and back. When just DH and I went, we took 2 days to get there. With our 2 year old twins, we are looking at 3 days (with 2 nights in hotels). The Choice Hotels website is pretty neat. It has a trip planner feature that maps out all of their hotels within a mile of 2 of your route. It is amazing how essentially the same Sleep Inn 30 miles down the road can be $30 cheaper. Since we don't know how far we will get each day with the kids, my plan is to copy the phone numbers of the likely candidates and call directly the day that we are driving. I know I could go the Motel 6 route, but with our toddlers, the continental breakfast is so much easier. I am also going to pack more snacks and pack a picnic lunch for the first day on the road. My kids aren't really old enough to appreciate Disney et al, so we will just being doing local, cheap stuff in Florida. My Grandma lives 1 block from the Atlantic Ocean, so we are definitely going to the beach!
-Sarah
Sarah
Mom to Gina & Tony
I was so annoyed with a caller to the Dave Ramsey show today on this very issue.
Hi Littlesbigs!
Yes, this summer should be interesting to say the least!
lvhunnie2005
A lot of our gas useage is from DH's commute of 120 miles a day roundtrip. But for 7 weeks he will be out of state and not driving at all, so that should help. Usually when he is away from home, the girls and I can get by on less food. No need to fix a big meal for just us, so hopefully less grocery costs. Also, my work just announced summer hours, so a shortened lunch hour will force me to stay in & bring lunch from home. One of my biggest downfalls is eating out too much. Definitely enough cushion in that to come up with money for gas.
We've just come to realize that since we have to drive, we just need to do the best we can and it will all work out. DH commutes with another worker, so that helps a lot too. Our parents don't have near the driving that we do, so when we want to visit they will usually make the trip to us. It's nice that they understand we can't just run up & down the roads all the time.
Good luck to all of you!!
I was multi-tasking so I may not have it exactly but basically she was saying that he's a graduate student, they are following the Dave Ramsey plan and so the increases in gas prices haven't affected them and if the rest of the world just wouldn't be in debt it wouldn't be a problem. WHAT?
Well, in essence she's right--it wouldn't be so hard to afford necessities if we weren't in debt. It just is the case NOT that it wouldn't still affect the budget but it wouldn't be a matter of juggling things around so much without the debt. I don't like it either but I think I 'get' where she was coming from. I wouldn't like hearing it either ;)
As far as changes, well we haven't really sacrificed anything just yet but have felt the pinch. We are planning a trip to Florida sometime in mid summer so I'm trying to save up extra cash for the gas. I'm am definately more aware of driving times and distances though. We don't drive far for anything really so it's not as hard for us as for some of you who drive a good distance to work but what's hard for us is the natural gas prices. Heating the house is outrageous (drafty) and even in summer our bill will still be high w/ the water heater and gas dryer. I may look into line drying.
Edited 4/26/2006 11:58 am ET by sweetjumps
I have to admit I don't notice the gas prices but its because i don't want to!! I bought a Jeep Liberty three years ago and its a V6 but I knew when I bought it could really hurt sometimes with prices. I get gas when I am at a quarter tank and I always put $20 - I won't fill it! I don't want to know! I live near a city so my 12 mile commute one way takes me 45 minutes in traffic so it sucks the gas even more. I could take the train, but it would cost me $7/day and until gas is at $3.75 (which I hope it never is), driving works out better for me.
I'm not great with a budget so I estimate $30 a day although I cannot truly afford to spend that much a day. I usually spend $6 a day on food and during the week, aside from gas, thats it. I figure the difference between the budgeted amount goes for gas and any expenses that pop up. I am still behind on some bills, so at the end of a pay cycle IF I ever happen to have some money left in my "virtual budget" for being under for a few days, I try to pay $40 to something thats behind. I am no accountant thats for sure.
I figure we are at War and whether people agree or disagree, it will impact oil prices. I do think its a sleazy industry so I try to choose my gas from companies that import from South America instead of the Middle East, but its not like they are great either. We are too relient on oil and need to realize alternatives myself included. O Canada, I look forward to the day when your fields of sand drenched in oil are in use and making your country a profit and making the rest of the world less relient on the Middle East. And I look forward to buying a green car next...
I have a 40 mile commute to work each way, so gas prices most definitely have a big impact on me.
Fortunately, I have two good things going for me: a 2002 Honda Civic that gets between 35-38 mpg, and a commute that is about 95% highway. I live a half mile off one state highway (M-15), and work a quarter mile off a freeway interchange (I-75/M-59). Southeast Michiganders will know where I'm talking about. My work schedule is slightly off rush hour (10-7) so I don't usually get stuck in traffic... except when there is a Pistons game. And they had to go and make it to the playoffs again this year... ^_^
I have looked into public transportation. The Flint buses have regular runs down to Oakland County (where I work), thanks to our Work First program and the lack of jobs available in Genesee County. But none of them run on my time schedule, and DH is very leery about having me park my car in downtown Flint every day and ride buses with what he says are a bunch of deadbeats. (Welfare doesn't automatically make you a deadbeat... but whatever.) So, drive I must. I try to go through only one tank of gas per week, which can be done if I drive gently and don't do too much extra driving outside of going to work and back. I have seen my weekly gas costs jump from $25/week to $30-$35/week. My last fill-up was $32.
We're going camping in the northern part of the state at the end of July. I'm already starting to set aside money for that trip (DH doesn't get paid time off), and extra for gas money to make the trip. Last time we went a couple years ago, we pretty much stayed at the campsite and didn't do too much driving around, so that will be one week, at least, where we're not using any gas. If only we could live in a tent and have paid vacation year-round. :)
I'm all about conserving. Last night, my friend and I were driving home the bookstore, and a giant SUV rushed past us at 90 mph down the freeway. It somehow made me remember a new Civic I had seen in my work parking lot, that - intentionally or not, I wasn't sure - still had the window sticker with the gas mileage stuck to the window. We thought it would be funny to post a sign or something in the back of our cars, saying something to the effect of "I get 40 miles per gallon, what's yours?" I do have the original window sticker for my car (I bought it used)... I could always throw that back up. :D
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