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So How Are You Going to Save on Gas when it hits $4

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leftyladyfrommo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 11:41 AM
Original message
So How Are You Going to Save on Gas when it hits $4
or even $3.

I'm kind of stuck with a low-mileage jeep so I just have cut my driving way down.
I started getting really serious about this when it took $45 to fill up my tank.

I would walk more but I live so far from everything that walking isn't going to work.
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hfojvt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
1. neither of my bicycles require gasoline
I think I will revert back to the no-gas push mower, at least in the front yard.
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leftyladyfrommo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 11:54 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. I'm too old to ride a bike.
I would kill myself. If I was young that is exactly what I would do.
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Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:45 PM
Response to Reply #1
16. Equilibrium problems make the viability of bicycling nullified
:(
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oxbow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
3. Buy a golfcart....
...piss off everybody else as I go 30 mph down the highway. Either that or move to one of these neo-urban planned communities where everything is within walking distance.
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DS1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 11:58 AM
Response to Original message
4. Ahh Jeeps. It's like swimming with a paddle board, only holding it
vertically in front of you. Or pushing a brick through the air.
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leeroysphitz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 11:58 AM
Response to Original message
5. I'd walk more also but...
I live deep in the heart of the Detroit suburbs, built on the "grid" system. it was built with automobiles and cheap oil in mind. The freaking 7-11 is two miles away and the nearest Grocery store is farther still and never mind my ridiculous 35 - 60 minute commute to work and no viable public transit out here in the "burbs".

Until I can afford to live in a community set up more centrally (maybe when I'm 70- lol) I'll just have to keep taking it on the chin from big oil.
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skygazer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
6. I don't use a lot myself
I'm ten minutes from work and drive a low-mileage vehicle. If I were in a suburban area, I'd walk or take mass transit but I'm in the woods so I drive. I combine trips already (always have - I've always lived in the middle of nowhere).

My SO will suffer, though. He already does. He has a long commute (over an hour one way) and drives an SUV (Ford Tahoe) which he has to since he's a carpenter and has to carry all his tools in it. Gas prices are already making it so he's essentially working for gas money - it's only going to get worse. :(
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Nailzberg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
7. I'm seriously thinking of buying a motorcycle.
I have a 6 mile commute that takes me 30 minutes.

And probably a good bit of gas siting in traffic. With a motorcycle I could get there in ten minutes, cause motorcycles here in LA just scoot between the lanes of cars parked on Barham.

And before someone bitches about me not being green enough to ride a bicycle, I would, but I work on the other side of the hill. I've tried the Cahuenga Pass once before on a bicycle and damn near killed myself.
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kedrys Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
8. Might carpool with the s.o. a couple of days a week
That would also save on the toll road fees, but we'd prolly end up killing each other. :P
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graywarrior Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
9. Walk to work.
Ride my bike.
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barb162 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:13 PM
Response to Original message
10. I combine trips always
and have a fuel efficient vehicle. You just cut back elsewhere
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graywarrior Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:15 PM
Response to Original message
11. I already cut my gas expense by filling up every 8 or 9 days
instead of every 3 or 4. Makes a major difference planning a route, planning where you need to go to get things done, etc.
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Mutley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:18 PM
Response to Original message
12. I don't even know.
I've cut back on driving as much as I can. Gas has been skyrocketting around here the last few weeks. It was at $3.08/gal the last time I filled up. :(
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trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:25 PM
Response to Original message
13. I dunno. Maybe get one of these?


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Roon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:47 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. I would love to have one of those!!
That would be perfect for getting groceries.
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trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:31 PM
Response to Original message
14. Or one of these?
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CaliforniaPeggy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 01:36 PM
Response to Original message
15. Well.....Funny you should ask!
I will (hopefully soon) be driving Toyota's answer to high fuel prices:

Their hybrid Camry!

:woohoo:
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xmas74 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 04:25 PM
Response to Original message
18. Walk.
But I can't walk to work. I have to drive five miles out of town (seven from my house) on a county road that isn't very well lit and is known for drunk drivers. There's no shoulder and I work all night so I still have to drive there.
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 04:46 PM
Response to Original message
19. Walking or public transportation is not an option for me,
Edited on Sun Apr-30-06 04:48 PM by RebelOne
as there is no bus service in my area. I live in the suburbs of Atlanta. My round-trip for work is 30 miles, so the cost of gas is no big problem. I only have to fill up my gas tank once a week, so I guess I am lucky. And I have grocery stores and shopping malls within a 3-mile radius of my house.
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deadparrot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 04:52 PM
Response to Original message
20. This is a bit of a problem for me,
since I live in the 'burbs and work downtown (probably a 25-30 minute ride each way). I'll probably carpool, but yeah, the pay from my summer job will probably go right back into my gas tank. Luckily, I love my work, so I don't mind too much. :)
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 05:03 PM
Response to Original message
21. I've considered a few things...
There's a grocery store 1½ miles away, and I've got a nice heavy-duty tote bag from LLBean I can use to carry a few days' worth of groceries at a time (this option isn't for stock-up shopping, though).

I'm seriously considering letting my gym membership expire in a few weeks instead of re-upping for six months. The gym is only four miles away, but round trip 4 days a week adds up. I exercise at home the other three days, and went without a gym membership for a year, so I know it can be done. In fact, if I save the gas to the gym several times a week, I could have saved enough miles to get halfway to Minnesota (high prices or no, I've got to made my road trip to MN).

I haven't for sure decided to do this or not. However, I do anticipate doing more exercise outside in nice weather (walks to the grocery store and possibly the library - the library is almost three miles away, but that's a long walk for the kids. Maybe if we take the wagon). Maybe I'll take the summer off the gym and then see how it goes.

My son's school lets out in four weeks. That'll save me 20 miles per week.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 05:07 PM
Response to Original message
22. I guess I can make fewer trips to the grocery store
Unfortunately the nearest place with much I can eat is way too far to walk or pull the kid in the trailer even in the nicest of weather now that I'm exiled to the burbs, so while I can try a little harder to cut down the number of trips there's not much else I can do. We need food, the kid needs dropped off at his Dad's and once I start school driving there will be the only practical option (it's not real far, but it's really not safe to walk or ride because of some rather hairy intersections between here and there.)
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u4ic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 05:10 PM
Response to Original message
23. $4.07 here
the world hasn't ended yet...
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Alleycat Donating Member (992 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 05:17 PM
Response to Original message
24. I have no idea what I will do.
I'm in sales, so I am on the road quite a bit. Sometimes I can do 400-500 miles a week. We get an expense allowance which is $215/month. That does not even come close to covering cell phone, gas, vehicle maintenance, luch with clients.
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DanCa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Apr-30-06 05:19 PM
Response to Original message
25. Vote Democrat in Nov.
I allready ride the city bus.
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