How are higher gas prices personally affecting YOU?

[debbierlus]

Our story:

My husband is scheduling pick up of auction merchandise for only two days a month (he runs an auction house). He was going to buy a delivery truck, but that expense is to large combined with the gas prices. So, he is going to RENT the truck twice a month. This is a huge pain since in his business, a truck is part of the basics. It can cost business because people will often search out another auction house, if they have to wait. We try to do the majority of 'go sees' through digital pictures over the internet and only go out, if the there are a large number of pieces or a truly incredible piece. We are being extra careful because we don't trust this economy at all. I believe in a few months, we will comfortably able to meet the costs of the truck and gas. But, a year ago, we would have just taken out a loan.

Slow & steady.

[devilgrrl]

1. I'll be driving a lot less, that's for sure.

:shrug:

[Bellamia]

5. Me too!

Which is frustrating to say the least. I used to food shop once a week, then it got to be every ten days, now I plan, hopefully, to shop every OTHER week and pray I don't run out of anything!

Edit:Spelling

[Sammy Pepys]

2. Not much

I do have a car that I use on the weekends, but I take public transportation during the week. If I drove more I'd probably feel the pinch, but it was really the D.C. traffic and parking that influenced the move.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Just An Annoyance For Us Right Now.

I grit my teeth payin the prices, but hasn't adversely affected anything else really.

[cynatnite]

4. Hubby is an owner operator truck driver...

the higher the prices go, the more it cuts into his income. The only way we'll survive is higher rates which will of course be passed onto the consumer.

[Tool Fan]

6. I'm unemployed, so...

I deal with it every day making the decision to not visit friends on the other side of town, or walking to the store instead of driving. The jobs I've been looking for have to be bus accessible for me to afford to get there, or pay well enough to compensate for the gas loss. Obviously none have worked out yet.

Isn't it grand? For so long, poor people couldn't afford to have cars. So now we have them and can't afford to drive them.

[RB TexLa]

7. Hasn't, I work outside sales and drive most days

some 100 mile days. It's a commodity, prices fluctuate.

[Jane Austin]

8. We are an internet business as well as a brick and mortar store.

On the one hand, it's probably cheaper for our customers to look up a Beagle statue than to drive around looking for one.

On the other hand, FedEx and UPS just keep tacking surcharges on to our shipping costs, and of course our vendors pass that cost right on to us.

We are trying to hold the line on shipping charges to our customers, so the higher rates just eat into any profit we would make.

Our truck stays parked 90% of the time. :(

As for the effects of high gas prices on us personally, we live 30 miles outside of town so we are paying a lot for gas.

My diesel Passat gets great mileage, but my husband's Suburban is awful. He is planning to trade it in on either a diesel Jetta or a Prius. Can't decide.

I would give anything for a diesel or hybrid minivan. That's what I need because I always have one or two Golden Retrievers with me.

I do think the high gas prices are going to shake out some retail businesses.

[wain]

9. I'm encouraging working from home

One person on my team has a long commute and the increasing cost of gas has a real impact on the family budget. I've suggested working from home one or two days a week (we all have laptops). My boss backs me up.
:)

[debbierlus]

10. I hope employer's will help out workers in any way they can!

[Tool Fan]

That's a fabulous idea! n/t

[Imagine My Surprise]

11. Well, I just praise God that I am now able to have less money for food...

and clothing. And that it now costs $28 to fill the tank of a 4 cylinder dinosaur. To Him be the glory.

[CountAllVotes]

12. I stay in the right lane and drive at 55 mph

and I also drive as little as possible. I check the air in my tires every couple of weeks and add a fuel additive to my car to clean the fuel injectors every couple of months. I try to do as many things as I can when I drive into town like I did today. I gassed up at Costco to save a few cents (~.20) per gallon and then I went to a discount store to purchase some things I needed that are much cheaper that in the town I live in (like about 25% less). I bought some cooking oil and a birthday card for my uncle (40% off at this discount store).

I had coupons for Costco as well and a ~$50 cash back check for the year from using the American Express card for the year. I used that too and also the Costco coupon book to buy only items I need. I had some other things I was going to buy and I put them back on the shelf.

My goal is to make every trip into town to pay for the gasoline needed to get there. So far my plan works but I have to keep on it constantly and it is not easy. I must drive 50 miles r/t to get into town - so that is approx. 2 gallons of gas (~$6.50 at present).

Luckily, I do not drive much. I have a Honda Accord that I bought new in 2002 and it now has just a little over 11,000 miles on it so that sort of tells you how much I spend on gasoline and how much driving I do. I get about 30 mpg freeway/25 mpg city and it is the only car our household owns.

I'm far more concerned about prices on other things like food and other essential items needed to just "live".

I strongly suspect we are already in a recession and what I deem to be a "new" form of a depression that no one cares to discuss nor face. I'm no economist but I can say that the bills are all going up and what I have to live on is not going up at all. I'm losing, losing every day under the * regime as is every single other person in the USA unless you happen to be very rich. :(

:dem:

[Mind_your_head]

13. I downsized from a minivan and bought an (older) but in outstanding

shape Honda Civic about 6-8 months ago. I really liked that my gasoline charges went down from $40-$60/6 days to around $30 for 10 days of regular driving.

I filled the lil Civic up today though at $2.78/gal. and that cost $42! However, that will still be for 10 days of driving, instead of 6 in the minivan before I have to fill up again.

I actually LIKE driving the Civic, it's a lot more fun to drive than the minivan. Has a nice little 'zip' to it, instead of that 'lumbering' feeling with the van. I did keep the van though, since it's paid for and there have been occassions ~ either driving lots of people/kids around or hauling stuff ~ when it still comes in handy. I park it for free in a neighbors unused garage and the insurance for driving it as a 'special use' car (or some term like that) is really low.

I'd really rather own a hybrid vehicle than the civic, but that's not "in the cards" for this family right now.

[Xenotime]

14. Big oil is putting my out of business....

I have to drive everywhere.

[AtomicKitten]

15. It's $3.02 for regular here today in SF

fortunately I have a 5-speed teeny car and we don't drive much

[HippieCowgirl]

16. Since last summer's price hike...

I became very aware of how much I drove. There is no public transportation in my city, so I drive to work and back - 24 miles a day. The grocery store is on the way home, and a quick stop there doesn't add but a touch of mileage to my daily drive. I don't drive to Dallas on a whim, I visit my friends in other cities "virtually" or on the phone.

[Inland]

17. It's causing me to cut back on Starbucks Coffee

Seriously, the thought of running out and getting some liquid that costs even more than gasoline with gas prices is too much. But something does get cut back, doesn't it?

[redwitch]

18. I am a sales rep in upstate NY

I am paid a commission only, no allowance for fuel or other expenses, all expenses cut into my paycheck. I have been doing two and three day road trips where I go to an area and try to see as many customers as possible and use the least amount of gas. It also saves wear and tear on the car (and me) to keep the mileage down. Tough to be away from home so much though!

I drive a Ford Taurus wagon to carry all my samples. I use my cruise control and keep the car well maintained. I would love a Prius! It won't hold my samples.



on edit: I know! I'll be the Rhode Island rep! :think:

[Ammonium]

19. diesel's and hybrid's looking better and better

I'm seriously mulling over ditching my Volvo S40 for a Volkswagen TDI in either golf for passat form. I do 95% highway driving back and forth between Athens, GA and Atlanta on the weekends only. So instead of wasting a quarter of a tank on trip with the tdi I'd only use like a gallon and a half, if that.

[mwooldri]

20. My wife is spending more time at her parent's.

And yes, it's because of gas prices. She drives a minivan, I drive a Focus. The minivan costs $60-70 to fill up now. The Focus $28-$30. During the day, my father-in-law looks after my son so that I can go to work and my wife can go to school. Normally she would take him, in her van, to her dad's and then go to school. Then it changed that I would take him (car uses less gas). In the evening she would drive back home with my son. Now... it's every other evening. It's a 20 minute trip we don't need to make.

Now we have bikes (of the human pedal variety) but there is no human way that I could do my job, my wife go to school purely on bikes alone. I do have a bike trailer for my son, so we do go cycling - purely on a recreational basis. Greensboro's great but it is so spread out that you do really need a car to get anywhere good. If the public transport situation was better, if there was work closer to home I could get to on a bike or by foot... then I would. I could try and apply for the Council House waiting list and move back to the UK if/when I get housing and get a job... but then there's other considerations too (my wife's will graduate from university in about a year or so and be able to teach - yippee!!! and my son ought to carry on with one doctor for his issues - even though the NHS is good I'd prefer our doctors here and I do have good insurance).

Oh well, life goes on. We will adjust. We will never surrender. We will fight them in the SUVs, we will fight them at the pumps...

Mark.

[Lefty48197]

21. Sucking money out of my pocket and pissing me off.

I work in the construction industry and usually have to travel fairly far to jobsites. I can easily go through 30 gallons a week. Since I'm not exactly rich, I usually go on driving vacations, instead of flying vacations. I wish our President weren't getting all the leaders of oil producing countries pissed off at America.

[originalpckelly]

22. Not much...

I don't drive! Everything has its ups and downs.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

23. Its helped me lose about 8 lbs....

I decided a few months ago that I was going to start walking to work. I'm really lucky, I only live about 1.5 mi away from my job and there is a Rail-to-Trail for most of the way there. On grocery day, I take a big backpack and a insulated lunch box and pack my groceries home (on a good day I haul 15 lbs of food home). I feel great and I'm saving money.