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What, if anything, are you doing differently due to the rising cost of gasoline prices?

I am trying to drive less. I should be able to once summer starts. Both of the girls are in summer school, but I won't have the 3 times a week trips to Huntington Beach to deal with.

We're reducing if not eliminating single-purpose drives, e.g., this morning's drive by GW to mail the invitations AND get some more greenery for the yard.

We're using my new car more for general weekend driving, because it gets better mpg. [BTW, I highly recommend the 2009 Corrolla. I am getting BETTER than the claimed mpg, which was already reasonably high. It's not fancy, but it's reliable.]

We exclusively use one gas company, for which we get a 5% rebate when we use their credit card there.

The cost of gasoline is part of the thought process when we consider travelling for purchases. Will we spend more on gasoline to get to a more distant store than we'll save? Fortunately, I work in a sales-tax-free state and don't have to go far off my normal commute home to make purchases.

Nothing. I have already been driving very little. I get a fill-up about once a month. Because my granddaughter was visiting I needed to get two last month.

cindy.wellman wrote:What, if anything, are you doing differently due to the rising cost of gasoline prices?

I sold my 1995 Chev Impala (16 mpg) and bought a Toyota Rav4 (26 mpg). I think this is sacrifice enough! (I loved that car). But I also gave up my gym membership in a gym about 8 miles from my house. This gas crisis is affecting my health!

The price of hay has doubled this year. I just pay it, because I use a bag a week for the rabbits, so it's gone from $3.99 to $7.99 a week.

I have been hearing stories that some of the horse owners around here can't afford to feed their horses and they are looking for homes for them.

It's very sad.

cindy.wellman wrote:What, if anything, are you doing differently due to the rising cost of gasoline prices?

My mom won't drive me on long trips, even if it's someplace I really want to see.

Of course, she's always been like that.

1. Gotten very adept at the art of the drive-off at busy service stations and mini-marts.
2. Always carry a cordless drill and a bucket for 'quickie' fillups.
3. Good old fashioned siphon hose - gas really doesn't taste bad once you get used to it.

Yeah right - I can post that only because I don't have my own merry man.

In reality -

1. Last year I got rid of my hugemongus pickup truck with it's 496 cubic inch gas sucking engine that consistantly got under 10 MPG's.
1a. Of course, in my job I need a hugemongus pickup truck, so I got a similar truck with a diesel engine. Now I average 16 MPG and have hit over 20 at times.
1b. A special thanks for whoever is responsible for diesel fuel going from costing about 20 cents a gallon LESS than regular gas and making it now cost eighty cents MORE than regular gas.

2. Last fall we shopped around and bought a Honda Civic. Paritally since Jaybee son #1 started driving in January and partly for the 30 to 35 MPG's that it gets. As our third vehicle, my truck stays parked unless needed and the Civic is the first choice for whoever has the farthest to drive.

3. Curently, we're looking for another Civic for the same reasons.

4. I started slowing down several years ago. I'm basically a 'at the speed limit' kind of guy now, although I will drive 60 in a 55 zone. Cruise control is my friend.

5. We've made more of an effort to combine trips.

http://www.genuitescooters.com/scooters ... ddy_3.html

Mine is baby blue, with a woven leather basket on the back. The trip to school was a gallon a day in my car. "Bubbles" makes five trips for that same gallon.

School is out now, and I'm having a ball running errands around town.

Yes, herjosie has gone with me in the basket. She can't figure out why people keep calling her Toto!

We have an airport car...an older car, easy on gas, for the 1.5hr commute to work. The new 'mommy car' also gets great mileage. The older 'daddy car' is a guzzler, but it is parked more often than not these days.

We try to consolidate our errands into one trip...try to do them in the most efficient order, that sort of thing. We can walk to a lot of stuff nearby, and usually do when we can.

Not sure about an upcoming trip, though. We're going to TN next week, and we'd like to drive - but we may fly instead, mostly because of the 4+ tanks of gas it'll take to get there and back.

hermillion wrote:http://www.genuitescooters.com/scooters ... ddy_3.html

Mine is baby blue, with a woven leather basket on the back. The trip to school was a gallon a day in my car. "Bubbles" makes five trips for that same gallon.

School is out now, and I'm having a ball running errands around town.

Yes, herjosie has gone with me in the basket. She can't figure out why people keep calling her Toto!

Do you make her wear a helmet?

Its getting bad, even the Secret Service is cutting back

ulysses5019 wrote:

hermillion wrote:http://www.genuitescooters.com/scooters ... ddy_3.html

Mine is baby blue, with a woven leather basket on the back. The trip to school was a gallon a day in my car. "Bubbles" makes five trips for that same gallon.

School is out now, and I'm having a ball running errands around town.

Yes, herjosie has gone with me in the basket. She can't figure out why people keep calling her Toto!

Do you make her wear a helmet?

She would be SO incredibly jealous of the helmet and goggles worn by your avatar.

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:The price of hay has doubled this year. I just pay it, because I use a bag a week for the rabbits, so it's gone from $3.99 to $7.99 a week.

I have been hearing stories that some of the horse owners around here can't afford to feed their horses and they are looking for homes for them.

It's very sad.

This started here last fall when we entered our drought. Horse people gave the horses less and less hay, and then they had to give them away, and hope the new people could afford enough to feed them.

cindy.wellman wrote:What, if anything, are you doing differently due to the rising cost of gasoline prices?

Even though we drive a Prius we are trying to consolidate trips because paying $40 to fill a tank is just wrong.

earendel wrote:

cindy.wellman wrote:What, if anything, are you doing differently due to the rising cost of gasoline prices?

Even though we drive a Prius we are trying to consolidate trips because paying $40 to fill a tank is just wrong.

That would make filling up my truck at $125 really, really, really wrong.

My team member who lives in a motor home will probably have to pay $500 to fill-up now.

Mostly we just tightened our belts across the board. Gas costs are reflected in the prices of almost everything we buy anyway. That said, with the high cost of trucking, business is VERY good on the railroad, so Mr Jai is getting a lot more overtime, whether he wants it or not.

We have a 3+ week RV trip to the West Coast planned to start later this month. I'm worried about how much more it's going to cost, but I'll probably just put it on plastic. On past trips, I've always managed to pay off the gas credit cards at the end of the month, but this time I may end up paying some interest... which makes the gas even more expensive. Argh.

Other than the RV, we both drive Subarus that get pretty good milage, and only drive them when we need to, so there's not much room to cut there. My daughter doesn't drive my car as much as she used to, or probably would like to, but now she has a boyfriend with very wealthy parents -- they bought him a brand spankin' new FJ Cruiser for his 16th birthday -- and he takes her wherever she wants to go.

I purchased a candy-apple red electric scooter at a yard sale this weekend. A steal at $125 - I love it. Not brave enough to drive it to work yet, but trips to the store and whatnot will be cheaper and more fun, at least during good weather.

Herjosie: have your mom check out this site - Lola's son, who owns my parents now, has a pair he uses when he goes cruising with my dad.
http://doggles.com/eyewear.html

t.

$4.55 for Premium on Thursday of last week. And that was at the discounted Am/PM station in Irvine.

1) We are combining errands and the like.

Boonie is retired now, so he isn't driving to work. Of course, he worked less than a mile from home and would walk it sometimes so it's had minimal impact.

2) We are making fewer trips to TLAF and shore. Wildwood is 90 miles away. Instead of going every weekend, we are going alternate weekends and staying longer. I'll bring work with me, scheduling Friday and Monday projects that don't need interoffice email. That way, I'm not losing income.

It's more complicated this year than in the past because Boonie is still recovering from his operation (much better but still recovering).

Normally, once down there, we try to bike or walk as much as possible, except if we go to Atlantic City or Cape May. Small grocery shopping trips, visits, etc. Boonie is still walking with a cane, so long walks aren't on the agenda yet.

3) I am exploring taking the bus to work.

My current freelance job is in Horsham, a Philadelphia suburb. It's open-ended so I have no idea how long I'll be here. Possibly to the end of the year.

It's a 30-minute drive each way. Nice drive but...

There's a bus route at the corner. I don't know how convenient it would be.

If Boonie dropped me off at Norristown every day (a 10 minute drive from the house), it would be a two-bus trip of about 45/50 minutes, according to the SEPTA website, including changing buses).

I grew up a child of public transportation so two buses is nothing. I'd get to read or write non-work things, work on the neighborhood reunion in September or just have quiet time to think.

I REALLY miss taking the train or the El to Center City Philadelphia. I did that for years and was/am terribly spoiled by it.

Now that I think about it, this is the first job I've had to drive to (at least on a regular basis) in 20 years.

It cost $4.49 a gallon to fill up my car today.

I paid 4.45/gallon (and that was a cheaper station!)...luckily I had a $20 gift card to ease the pain. So what I had to pay out of my own pocket was the more normal $38. So I'm going to try to be ignorant to the fact that it really cost $58, at least until the next time I fill up...

cindy.wellman wrote:What, if anything, are you doing differently due to the rising cost of gasoline prices?

I'm drinking less.