For the month of May I spent over $200 on gas. This month, on top of the gas expenditures, I have to take my car in the shop for an oil change and minor repairs (~$120?).
Like most Californians, I’ve adjusted (slowly and reluctantly) to the painful reality of increasing gas prices. I am mentally preparing myself for $5/gallon by the end of the summer.
What can I cut? Well, the first answer is… gas. But, I can’t take public transportation to work, and on the weekends, I just want to go where I want to go! I figure I usually drive around 150 miles a week, which for my area really isn’t that much at all.
I’m guessing the first things to go would be things I’ve considered: no more trips to Ross, fewer dinners out, fewer groceries. Fortunately, Mom keeps me very well-fed by giving me loads of frozen and prepared food every time I go home. Yes, I am blessed. No, I don’t feel like a mooch. Is that bad?
Anyhow, I am hoping that 1. my rent won’t go up, and 2. my car stays “healthy”, and 3. I have more self-control over spending!
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
i feel your pain at the pump. alot of women in my area have been buying scooters to get around. i would buy one if i had the cash to buy it outright. i joked that ia m going to rollerskat the ten miles down the expressway to work.
I can’t take transit to work either. At least I have a fairly fuel efficient car. Gas is 148.9/L here right now, and we have a new Carbon Tax on top of it starting next week that will add another 2.5 cents/L Ugh! Less shopping trips for me too!
thats $1.499/L Apparently it looks like I said $149! Phew. I don’t look forward to that day!
Oh my. 3 comments in a row. I did the conversion…so 1.489/L is around $5.64/Gallon Yuck!
Just wondering…why is public transportation out of the question?
Public transportation in L.A. is difficult, unless you live in certain places.
It is hard/impossible to cut back driving without sitting home and staring at the walls all weekend
Yeah, public transportation in LA can get complicated unless you’re lucky enough to live on a transit line that goes directly to your work. I know people on the train who go from one train to the Metro, to another Metro, and then walk. Their commute is 2+ hours, each way! It’s hard to reconcile yourself to spending 5 hours a day getting to and from home and work.
Something might be workable for a day or two out of the week, but don’t you still work some crazy hours?
The only thing that helps the sting of paying $300+/month for gas is that I get 5% back on it. *sigh*
I would suggest limiting the number of trips you make by consolidating them into a day’s worth of stuff to do. Perhaps combine them with your trips home to pick up food.
Public transportation is out of the question for me as well. Oh Southern California cities… I am feeling the pain at the pump, too.
Consolidating trips will help.
Also what about a bike? I’ve expanded the area I can cover by biking to do my errands. It’s also a lot cheaper than a gym membership!
Ah, maybe it’s the eternal student in me, but I love free food. My mom gave me some leftovers and it saved me over $50 in meals (I chronicled it in my blog)! Sometimes they make more than they could eat in a reasonable amount of time and it can get forgotten in a freezer. You’re not a mooch!
I so understand how you feel. The gas in my area is $4.79! I drive about 25 miles a day! I can’t take public transportation where I live either. I’m in California and there is nothing going from my house to my destinations. My mom thinks gas is going to hit $6 by the end of summer! I hope she is wrong, but I think she is right.
We use to budget $300 a month for two cars. I am not sure where we are at now; I’m afraid to look!
Maybe I can throw a few things into the ring ?
Here in the UK gas is around £1.30 a gallon (Imperial Gallon), a very rough conversion takes that to around $10 per US Gallon, and rising weekly.
One thing we have had to accept is that this is a permanent price hike and that if we aren’t prepared to accept it then we have to change our habits.
Public transport here (outside of London) is also a joke and not really anything but a last resort.
In our house we have a large family saloon that is a diesel car simply because it does 50 miles to the gallon without breaking sweat, drive it carefully and you’ll get up to 58mpg, it costs me £84 (about $150) every time I fill the tank but I’ll get two weeks careful driving out of it.
We also have a second small car, a Peugeot 107 which has a petrol engine but is a small car with a small fuel consumption habit, its a baby car really even though it seats four (just) and would probably fit in the trunk of my saloon car – but for a car to drive locally and in the city where no-one goes any faster than the car in front then its the only obvious choice.
Whoops – edit on that price check – I meant £1.30 a litre (big difference !!!)
I was living in SoCal up until a year ago and I’d say the best way to decrease your gas usage and just improve your life in general is to live as close to work as possible. It might cost more to do so, but you’ll save on gas, not sit in the car for X hours a day and maybe you can get a tan walking/riding your bike to work!
Matt
Quote” I just want to go where I want to go! ”
It may get to the point that you must decide is this a
1. I just want to go where I want to go, trip
2. I need to go, trip
3. I must go trip
and restrict driving to the “I must go trips”
I have been working on fuel efficiency campaign and a website that provides money-saving tips (www.drivesmarterchallenge.org). Some of the tips are pretty basic for instance, taking out the things weighing down your trunk. But the tips also include the dollar figure for how much one could save – Each 5 mph one drives over 60 mph is like paying an additional 20 cents per gallon for gas. There are some interesting figures, plus coupons for car maintenance stuff.
I hear your pain.
No public transportation here either (well, no “good” public trans., I’d have to transfer twice and increase my drive from 15 minutes to 2 hours – oh and in the morning the bus doesn’t start early enough for me to be in at work by 9, or even 10.) and my work schedule is so variable that carpooling isn’t reliable either.
I feel really bad for Gary and the other Europeans who have had these prices (but worse) for a while.
Do you have the option of working from home? I’ve been working from home 2 days per week this summer, which essentially saves me $10 per week, since I live 15 miles from work and get about 25 miles per gallon in the city.