Where will you save money to pay for increased gas prices?

[InfidelSerf]

Just the other day I went to the airport to pick up my girlfriend and noticed gas was $2.06,
I thought.. "wow I'll need to fill up tomorrow" (It's been $2.25-35 the past several months)
Well tomorrow came and it had jumped to $2.19 in less than 24hrs??  

While I'm not going to make a huge stink over fuel prices.  I mean why do we expect it to stay at a certain level?  ALL prices go up right?

I'm curious though.. just what will you and your family change in your lifestyle to pay for the increases?

And what are ways you could save the difference in other areas.

My first suggestion is this.  I carry out as often as possible now... I don't buy drinks that way and as bad as it may sound.. I don't have to tip :p
Depending on how often you eat out that could easily cover the increase in gas prices.

So come on .. let the tight wads among us speak out.

[jefnvk]

Nope.  Actually, I am looking at a less fuel efficent car right now.  Need the ground clearance and power, tired of getting stuck in the parking lot with my efficent car.

I tend to deal with problems as they occur, and not worry about the future.

[Standing Wolf]

I'll just hire an assault lawyer and tell him to find somebody with deep pockets to sue for whatever.

[...has left the building.]

I generally commute to work with my bike now instead of my car. But I think that is 75% loving to ride and 25% 60mpg.

[telewinz]

Less trips to the mall and range.

[Sindawe]

Very little change will be made.  About the only vehicles available that beat the fuel milage of my current ride ('91 Civic) are hybrids, and those cost an arm and a leg.  The Civic is long paid for.  I am considering a "newer" used vehicle, but only with the aim of getting a conversion from United Nuclear (http://www.switch2hydrogen.com/) to run on H2 once they come to market, with the plan for using solar cells to crack H2O and capture the H2. Note: the site has just been moved in the last few days, so not all the links are active.  Groceries are in walking distance, pet foods are in Boulder, where I will be working in a month or so.

My only long term debt is my mortgage, and that housing cost has not changed in 15 years (10 years there,  + five years prior in rent elsewhere).

If it gets really bad, I'll put studded tires and out riggers on cheap trail bike for winter commutes.

[K Frame]

I've taken to robbing banks.

I just eat out a little less frequently.

[P95Carry]

Can't do banks like Mike - not good enough - have to stick to stop'n'robs!!

Seriously - less take-out, I also am a bike user when weather allows - big saving, as well as extra grin factor!!  I do in fact find I am getting more toward ''making a trip count'' if in truck particularly - do all needed in one trip instead of two.  

$50 for a full fill is gettin' painful - to say least.

[Iain]

Heh, you make me laugh.

I guarantee that the love affair with the car will continue. Ours has, despite our fuel prices. Seems to be a tendency for bigger engines over here, by bigger I mean there are a few cars out there with 3+litre engines. Nissan's 2.5 V6 sports car is very popular, as is Mazda's rotary-engined 1.3l - both achieving combined figures of around 25mpg. That's ignoring the rise and rise over here of what you call the SUV.

[Guest]

Well My '93 S10 has the 4.3L .
So my vehicle is paid for, insurance is less with all the safe driver discounts, and such, Hwy I get 25+ mpg [extended trips I get 30mpg], city I get 16 - 18 mpg.  [ Geared for hwy].

Helps not having to make payments, and highter insurance.

Even so I watch  / plan trips.  20 gal tank  - I let it get to half and fill back up.  My college is across the river ~ 20 mi one way.  I take on-line classes when can.  I have already had some semesters I never set foot on campus, except to get some paperdrill done or  teach a clinic. [ I was teaching Professors, and teachers - LOL!]

Hopefully I can get classes on campus on the same day and save extra trips.  I have two Cisco classes I have to be on campus for due to labs.

Oh...when I do something for someone, I accept cash only, or they can fill up my truck with their debit card. Sometimes I just get the use of the Corp credit card.  [ I do as much as can off- paper ]

I am not a shopper - that said I use the Internet to order stuff and have shipped to door.  I have even been busy with everything and call the Mom&Pop grocery and let them drop off groceries, I tip them off course - still saves me time and my gas.

When I have been sick or recovering from surgeries - Pharmacies make deliveries too. Mine only charges a $1 extra fee for this.

---
Got a classmate, decided she did not like the Buick she inherited from deceased Grandma. Sold the car to a family with first baby on the way.  Paid cash for a older Toyota Camry, in great shape well taken car of. Gets better mileage, less insurance. Like me she shops online, has Pharmacy make the deliveries to her .  

Unlike me she can do that head tilt and nod, loosen a button on blouse and the Pizza / Food delivery guys don't need a tip. They might stumble off the porch...

  She came up with that  tip for her married friends with daughters - let the teenage daughters answer the door in short shorts, and Tank tops for the Pizza guy...them tips add up fast "Dad" . LOL

[Larry Ashcraft]

Iain, one thing you have to remember: Europe would fit inside Texas.  Americans travel HUGE distances in their cars.  From here to the Tulsa gun show is a relatively short hop; 1300 miles round trip.  If I were to travel to visit Oleg, for example, that's 22 hours of driving one way.

My truck gets around 15 MPG in town, maybe 17 on the highway.  I have gotten as high as 20 by keeping the speeds around 60-65, but the only place I do that is in the mountains.

The only way for me to make up for the high cost of fuel is to raise prices at my trophy shop, and I have done that.  Face it, the higher cost of fuel will cost us in many ways we don't even think about.

[Iain]

Larry,

That is true, how many miles are some of you doing a year? A few I know here are doing a hell of a lot, but that's generally business and so done in a company car.

Things will change for you guys, but many of you will do the addict thing - generate more money than before to feed the addiction. Some guy in my home town is feeding a Hummer - what do they get? 7mpg?

[kudu]

Iain

I work as a plumbing contractor, going to whatever job needs manpower to get done.  I sometimes run 600-700 miles a week for months at a time.  Luckily I have been at a maintenance style job for the past couple years for the most part that lets me only go about 150 miles each week, and I try to do everything I can while I am in town so I don't have to make any special trips anywhere.  I drive a full size truck that gets about 15mpg.  Gas is about $2.25 right now.

[mtnbkr]

I live about 25 miles from the office.  To live significantly closer would mean 100k+ in housing costs (and the closer I got the worse it would get).  I put about 35k on my vehicles each year between communting, trips, etc.  My biggest gas guzzler, a Toyota 4Runner, gets 17mpg in town and 20mpg on the highway.  My other car gets about 24/30 with the AC off and 22/28 with the AC on.  

Chris

[Larry Ashcraft]

My trip to work each day is a 25 mile round trip, so figure 150 miles a week for business.  I put about 15K miles a year on my truck, so half of that is personal/pleasure.  Sandy drives 90 miles per day to work, round trip.  Her '97 Taurus gets 30+ MPG.  We live in farm country as personal preference, so we have to pay the price to get to work each day.

Used to be, we would take the truck on trips to Denver, just for the comfort and safety factor.  These days, we will normally take the Taurus, unless we need the truck for some reason.  We took the truck to Denver a few weeks ago to finish up my son's move up there, the gas cost was about $35.

We took the Taurus to Tulsa.  My truck would have used about 80 gallons of gas, the Taurus used less than 40.  BTW, my truck is a 1992 F150, 5.8 liter, auto.  I bought it new in 1993 and it has 172K miles on it.   It has been repainted twice and reupholstered once, and is due to go to the upholstery shop again soon.  It still looks like a new truck.

[K Frame]

Unlike mtnbkr, I live 7 miles from my office, which is about a mile from HIS office.

It pays to have bought in 1993 when housing prices were in the toilet around here.

And his wife wants me to buy the house next to them? Something about baby sitting... Yeah, right!

As for the European comparison...

The European population is HIGHLY centralized. Something like 75% of Europeans live within 10 miles of where they can easily take mass transit of some type to just about anywhere they need to go.

In the United States vast numbers of people live far outside of any regular, efficient public transit system, other than the interstate highway system. Once you get off the East and West coasts, large-scale public transportation is simply an impossibility.

[Gun Runner]

I plan to cut back on my heroin usage.

[Iain]

Loads of people I know commute via car. Could commute to Birmingham from here on the train everyday, but couldn't guarantee I'd be there on time (used to commute on the train 6 miles each way to go to college and could be up to an hour late) So, it's there, but lots of people choose traffic jams over nasty, packed late trains. The Tube is the exception, that's pretty reliable. I walk half an hour to get to work rather than get the bus as it's actually more hassle.

Spoke to my father earlier, when I was a kid he got a job in Shrewsbury (think mid-England, near to Wales) and used to commute weekly from Cornwall (south-west). He reckoned that for that year he did 50k miles. He does around 20-25k now and he walks to work when he is in the office.

More will choose to drive, off-setting petrol costs against mortgage costs. Can't get very much worth having even here (20 miles from Birmingham, about an hour in 'rush hour') for less than around $180,000US.

Mind you, a Swedish guy I know thinks British living is ridiculously cheap, he earns less here (academic) but has far more disposable income.

[cfabe]

So far the only changed we've made in our lives here are choosing to take one of the more fuel efficent vehicles on long trips instead of the gas hogs. Needless to say the 2003 3/4 ton suburban with 8.1L v8 doesnt get used much, at 12mpg empty. It did still get used quite a bit this summer to tow the 31 foot camper ( at 8mpg loaded, ugh), which is the reason we have it. The nissan sentra and 4cyl saturn vue are the preferred cars in the family garage, at 35mpg and 30mpg respectivly.

[grampster]

Any reports that a rather fit and, ahem, handsome, grey haired fellow may have hijacked a gas tanker truck are rather far fetched and merely rumor.

[Art Eatman]

I guess the nice thing about getting old and having done some planning ahead is that I have no debts.  I've already done all the toys I've ever wanted.  So, while gasoline for travel is a noticeable expense, it's not enough to worry about.

I buy my diesel in Mexico, for my backhoe, saving around 80¢ a gallon, and when it's feasible to buy gasoline over there, I save another two bits or so.  That helps for local, Terlingua doings.

I'm glad I don't have to do a daily commute.  But that's regardless of gas price, I guess.

Art

[jefnvk]

Americans travel HUGE distances in their cars.  From here to the Tulsa gun show is a relatively short hop; 1300 miles round trip.  If I were to travel to visit Oleg, for example, that's 22 hours of driving one way.

Home to college (in state) is 500 miles, 8 hours, and I'm not even the worst off that lives in the state.  Do that trip once a month (even once every 6-8 weeks)  and that is a lot of miles.

http://www.nextelenterprise.com/race/  You could win a tanker of Sunoco fuel there.  That would solve your problems.

[Paddy]

$2.06 is CHEAP.  I paid $2.69 today in San Luis Obispo.  And I drive 50 one way to work.

[RevDisk]

Larry,

That is true, how many miles are some of you doing a year? A few I know here are doing a hell of a lot, but that's generally business and so done in a company car.

Things will change for you guys, but many of you will do the addict thing - generate more money than before to feed the addiction. Some guy in my home town is feeding a Hummer - what do they get? 7mpg?

The military HMMWV gets 13-15 mpg on the highway, depending on what model and how much kit you have loaded in the back.  It's also a diesel, which helps.   I never figured out what idiot would buy a gasoline burning HMMWV knockoff that uses a pickup chassis.  


Mass transit is not an opinion for most Americans.  Whenever I do long distance trips, I try to use the train.  Less hassle than flying, which is a bloody nightmare these days, and cheaper in many/most cases.

Another issue is that environmental regs are imposed on US cars that knock down the mpg a bit.

[InfidelSerf]

$2.06 is CHEAP.  I paid $2.69 today in San Luis Obispo.

$2.06 is unusually low around here too.  It's been in the $2.25-$2.35 range for the summer.. we are at $2.16-$2.19 right now  Just over the border into KS and its automatically $.10-.15 higher due to state taxes.
Granted the roads on the KS side are much nicer than MO. (as long as you don't mind driving in "construction" zones 24/7 :p )