Struggling with gas prices???

singinjeannie · #1 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 06:29 AM

Is anyone else out there feeling the hit with the new, even higher, gas prices?

My budget is already stretched to the dime with nothing to spare. I can't even find money to put into a savings account -- and now the gas prices go up substantially, once again.

With this latests change -- and I understand prices will continue to go up -- we have to find an additional $60 a month to cover our gas prices. Where am I supposed to get this from?

Sorry - I'm sort of venting, but really stuck financially.

-Jean

Momof3grls · #2 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 06:46 AM

I know its awful my dh is spending alot on gas because he goes to work & school everyday & now its like we can barley afford it but what can one do.

Myself I have just tried to cut back. I dont make alot of in between trips to the store & I hardly go to the other side of town just to visit someone. I have also started having my daughter walk to school. And if we go to the park we go to one close by. Just a few things I have done but probably will have to do more soon if it dont stop thank goodness I have a small car that gets great gas mileage I would hate to have an SUV right now or something like that.

singinjeannie · #3 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 08:26 AM

I cut my "running" quite a bit with the last gas hike. Not sure I can cut back much more. We don't have cars that are good on gas and my DH won't consider changing vehicles. Says we'll get nothing for selling his truck (it has low miles but looks awful) and we need the van for the seats (6 person family doesn't fit in a 5 seat sedan!). Both vehicles only get about 11 miles per gallon. Sigh.

To make matters worse, both my boys are on traveling baseball teams this summer. This was a stretch to afford originally, but now that the gas prices are going up, I haven't a clue how we're going to afford to get to these tournaments!

-Jean

mjrube94 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 09:27 AM

I'm a HUGE fan of buying gas gift cards on EBAY. I've regularly bought cards for Exxon/Mobil, Shell and Sunoco for at least 5%, usually 10% and one time 22% off! For some reason, the BP cards go for almost full price?! Anyway, new offers are listed everyday, so I just try to be patient and hold out for at least 5% off. We were spending over $300/month on gas. Due to a change in our circumstances, it came down to between $250-$275. My goal is to keep it under $250 a month, and this is the best way I've found so far. Good luck!

MrsChambers · #5 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 09:50 AM

don't even get me started on the gas prices!!! ARRGGG.

LAST SUMMER my husband and I switched cars to save on gas... gas prices never REALLY went down, so we never switched back..... now the prices are going up AGAIN???

now they are talking three - four bucks a gallon??

TANS MY HIDE

In my area of the country, good jobs are few and far between.
lucky to get a service job.
Most people have to live OUT OF TOWN because they can't afford to live IN town. But they WORK in town at a job that pays MAYBE 8 bucks an hour BEFORE taxes. Then they get to drive some 60 miles to and from work, making 6 bucks an hour (if they are lucky) AFTER taxes, then have to pay 2.00+ bucks a gallon??

what's a hard-working-blue-collared-American Supposed to do?

jmjj215 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 11:37 AM

MrsChambers: not much I or anyone else can probably say to that.

Really, we're going to have to get creative to not get nailed on this gas hike. If demand wouldn't remain constant with rising gas prices, the price would stop rising - people aren't yet (as of yesterday at least) responding to the hike by cutting back. (People on this board of course being the exception).

MrsChambers · #7 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 11:42 AM

I was thinking about posting a note of my local freecycle.com site to see if I could find someone to share rides with. I also thought about starting something like the feecycle site but just for carpooling, but I don't have a clue how to do it.

do you all think that there would be a need for something like this?

34saving · #8 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 11:46 AM

My credit card gives 4% cash back on gas station purchases. Gas stations around here also run specials on gas cards sometimes. So, if the station offers a $25 card for $23 and I use my credit card to buy it . . . not much given these prices but it helps a little.

Armywife · #9 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 11:56 AM

I just got back from filling my tank up... the station shut down the rest of the pumps just so they could hike it up five more cents... OUCH. I'm scared to think what the prices are going to look like come summertime. Bad enough Six Flags stock is plummeting due to debt

.. the kids are going to drive me nuttts!

Russell · #10 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 12:31 PM

11 mpg, ouch! I thought my 25mpg was bad...

I understand you need the van for the times when all 6 of you go somewhere together. However, if your family is anything like mine, we usually travel one or two at a time if not solo.

However, I also understand the part about not wanting to sell a car because you can't use the money to buy what you want. It doesn't make sense to sell your car for say $2k and then buy a $5k car to save gas...gas savings probably won't be able to offset the $3k out of the pocket expense unless you plan to keep that $5k car for a long time and you are driving lots of miles in it.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do except cutting back on how much you drive but usually that's not an option for most of us.

PrincessPerky · #11 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 12:51 PM

err whole message lost, not happy. Mrs Chamebrs let me know when you set it up.

singinjeannie · #12 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 01:15 PM

If I could do an even trade - get $3000 for the truck and then get a $3000 small car, I'd do it, but I won't get anything for the truck how it looks right now. It's really ugly and rusted out. We'd need to put $2000 into (paint job and replace whole bed) it to get $3000 out of it!

It gets such bad gas mileage, thought, the whole thing just makes me sick. Always seem to be in a no-win situation.

I'm certainly going to try to cut back on my driving, more, but don't know how much I can do.

-Jean

jacquelynrose · #13 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 01:49 PM

I am actually going to be getting a car within 3 weeks and I am not too excited about them gas prices. I guess I will need to set aside a budget for my Car as well. I am going to look into those gas gift cards off eBay. It sounds like a real good idea!

Jacquelyn

SeeAPenny · #14 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 03:53 PM

I was filling my car up the other day at the gas station, and noticed a woman pumping gas into her vehicle (an SUV) on the other side of my tank. She finished before I did, and drove off. Curious, I peeked around the other side to see what her total was before anyone else used it. $65.00...!!! And I dont' even know if that was a total fill-up or not. The total for my regular old Honda car was a mere $25 in comparison (not great, but a WHOLE lot better), and I was on nearly empty when I pulled into the station. With these gas prices I'm grateful our family of four still fits in a regular car and that we've never gone large vehicle route.....

DivaJen · #15 (**permalink**) 03-23-2005, 04:01 PM

I think it would be fairly straightforward to set up a yahoo group for carpooling. Call it something like "YourAreaCarpooling". People could post their start and stop locations and times and look for others that might work, logistically. I don't know how moderated you would or would not want it to be, given that people will be discussing fairly personal information on the internet. But I agree with the poster that said until demand backs down at all in relation to rate hikes, there's no reason for the prices not to keep going up. If people are willing to pay the prices, prices will go up.

terry1156 · #16 (**permalink**) 03-25-2005, 12:19 PM

That big oil refinery explosion is bound to spike gas prices to some degree. It seems there is no escaping the rising prices.

singinjeannie · #17 (**permalink**) 03-26-2005, 06:34 AM

Yeah. I was thinking the same thing about the oil refinery. We already don't have enough of them, which contributes to higher gas prices -- now they'll have one more excuse to raise prices yet again.

-

byusteeler · #18 (**permalink**) 03-26-2005, 01:10 PM

I was complaining about gas prices and then I rented a car in California. I had to pay $2.45 a gallon to fill it up at the end of the rental. $2.05 a gallon ( which is what gas was when I returned from California up 12 cents from $1.93 I paid the day before I left. less than 1 week ago) is still sticker shock, but I'm greatful for the 40 cent savings. It is however still a big hardship to come up with an ever increasing amount of money for things not just gas but groceries, medical insurance, and utility prices are on the rise too. Where does the government get there inflation rates from, because the stuff I need to retain a reasonable standard of living seems to have a much higher inflation rate than the economic reports keep touting.

singinjeannie · #19 (**permalink**) 03-26-2005, 01:17 PM

I agree that everything, except my paycheck, keeps going up. Fuel prices cause other things to go up, as fuel costs effect everything else. It costs more money for the trucking companies to carry the goods to the stores, so they charge more to the manufacturers and stores to deliver the goods. The stores still have to pay all their employees, so they pass the increased prices onto the customer -- you and me.

My insurance costs go up yearly, it seems, and my DHs current employer covers far less of the percentage of the insurance cost than his previous employers. It's really hard raising a family when everything just keeps getting more and more expensive.

PrincessPerky · #20 (**permalink**) 03-27-2005, 06:21 AM

Well I do agree that the cost of everything is going up, it always has, and our standard of living has gone up. I know I am spoiled. I remember reaing about frontier times and such. I also likme to read up on things in some countries, where walking 5 miles for a jpb or school is pretty normal.

I got an email about gas companies and who purchanses gas from Iraq and who doesn't, supposedly encouraging peple to not buy from those that do, but I was under the impression if you didn't buy it there, you bought it from their neighbors or from someone who did buy it there. (or bought it there and then combined it with somewhere else)