How do you still get around, while saving money on gas?

[Frugal]

I have been cutting back my grocery and shopping trips to about once a week. I am wondering how the rest of you are dealing with gas prices. Did you: 1) purchase a bike?; 2) get a more fuel-efficient vehicle?; 3) dock the gas-guzzling truck in the driveway permanenty?; or just 4) do nothing and hope they go down quickly?

I was curious how people are dealing with prices above $4 per gallon.

[debtfreeme]

I only drive when necessary: to work, to class, to the gym, to the store, other necessary place. That is really it. I have a budget of $180 a month for gas and if it gets used up, that's all there is. I live in California and gas is currently $4.10/gallon. I would not be surprised if it is $5/gallon before summer is over.

[greenskeeper]

my 13 year old vehicle gets 50mpgs so no worries

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

As a greenskeeper, is that a golf cart you drive?

[LuckyRobin]

We don't drive very much to start with, but I have combined picking my daughter up after school with trips to the library and grocery store, since they are both pretty close to her high school, instead of making separate trips. If the weather ever improves we could actually walk to the grocery store for small purchases that aren't too heavy to bring home, since it is only six blocks away.

Again, when the weather improves enough my daughter will start walking the one mile home from school instead of me picking her up. She gets sick too easy to leave her out in bad weather for a half hour.

I only drive my son if the weather is atrocious (snow, hail, pouring buckets of rain) or if it is dark out. He usually just rides his scooter to school since his school is just two blocks away. I just make sure he gets out the door on time so I'm not driving him to keep him from being late.

[97guns]

i have enough food to last 3 years and my veggie garden is just starting to kick in. i'll never have to leave the house

[marvholly]

Gas here was $4.29 as of Sat and new deliveries hit late Sun/early Mon so who knows how high today.

I am trying to limit myself to 2 BIG driving (20-25 mi rt) days/week. Do all my errands & shopping + visit my Dad. I sometimes allow an added controlled drive of up to 5 mi rt if I need CVS/WAG/library/concert or paark program. This does not always work like this week as I am checking out new places for my Dad & I am going to DD1 (35 mi rt) for holiday dinner.

[greenskeeper]

Originally Posted by Joan.of.the.Arch

As a greenskeeper, is that a golf cart you drive?

haha, one of these days I will calculate the mpgs for the golf cart.

But seriously my car is a 98 VW Jetta TDI (diesel engine) that gets an honest 50mpg.

No batteries required

[Like2Plan]

Ouch--This is a sore subject for me.
My workplace just moved last month. My drive just went from 25 miles (and about 25-30mins) to 35 miles and about 45 mins. So, instead of 200miles a week, it is now 280 miles.

[jeffery12]

why not you go with the higly fuel efficient vehicle

[tan fish]

I walk to work.

[timdaily]

purchase a fuel efficient bike+ use a bi-cycle for local purposes like going to market or nearby places

[feh]

Increased gas prices don't affect our behavior - we try to drive as little as possible regardless.

From April->October I ride my bike to work 3 or 4 times a week. I do that for exercise, not to reduce expenses, but that's a nice side effect.

[mom-from-missouri]

After what I paid today, I am about to start riding one of the horses or cows......

[1milliondollarchallenge]

In Australia the price is almost $6 a gallon (although in many areas, much more.) We are paying $1.50 - $2 per litre. 1 gallon = 3.785 Litres.

To save money we upgraded to a more fuel efficient car. We drive as little as possible. My husband uses public transport for work more (his work is now about 40kms/24miles away), we combine all errands and walk as much as possible.

Also, we make sure we are not carrying extra stuff in the car and clean it out regularly. The heavy the car the more fuel it uses. We also don't use the ac much.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Asked my DH if we would ever use my corolla to his outback. Nope. Gas is $4 and cost $65 to fill up. Whatever just adjust the budget. We bought a house close to work. Close to transit if needed. I that saves us when gas prices go up. People who live far away from work don't have as many choices.

[nick__45]

Originally Posted by Like2Plan

Ouch--This is a sore subject for me.
My workplace just moved last month. My drive just went from 25 miles (and about 25-30mins) to 35 miles and about 45 mins. So, instead of 200miles a week, it is now 280 miles.

Unfortunately, I got you beat on this one. My commute went from 0.5 mile to 35 miles each way when we moved to the city. Quality of life is actually better as we don't feel strapped to the weekend schedule when the weekend do come around. Before, we would be driving to the city 3 times a week minimum and now we're driving that same distance but 5 times. I am looking at 350-450 miles a week for work now. Work does pay for driving around or any place outside of the office, regardless of distance. However, they also provide free transportation for that; therefore, I don't want to get listed as greedy and penny counter if I ask for mileage reimbursement for driving from the office to meeting within 5 miles. I figure I put about 25 miles extra each day if I do have to do it. I try to avoid doing so. Work also pay for van pool so my commute could be completely free. However, I work overtime and want to enjoy my flex-time privilege as well as not wanting to trust my life to a different driver each day.

My car gets 28-35 mpg depending on driving condition. One day each week, I do need to drive my sport vehicle which only gets about 25 mpg but I want to give it at least one long trip so it doesn't rot away from not being used a lot.

If gas gets to $4.00/gallon, I do plan to ask people to car pool with me. I used to do that but stopped because I work OT. Currently, 2 hours OT can pay for all the gas my family use in a week. So I do manage to work enough OT to pay for gas. However, I welcome $1.50-$2.50, which I think is fair.

The problem with Americans is that we are a bunch of cry babies but we don't have a ball to do anything. If we all just stop driving one day week, we'll get gas back to $1.50 within a month. But instead we just condition ourselves to get raped at the pump more and more each day.

[nick__45]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

Asked my DH if we would ever use my corolla to his outback. Nope. Gas is $4 and cost $65 to fill up. Whatever just adjust the budget. We bought a house close to work. Close to transit if needed. I that saves us when gas prices go up. People who live far away from work don't have as many choices.

Most of the time living close to work is too expensive. In my case, work is in the middle of no where and I don't want to start a family there, let alone raising children. Houses are a little more expensive there but that's because there is very little foreclosure to speak of due to the company being there but that is not normal. I have no choice but to live far from work so my kids can go to better school and not have to be in/out of school as there is no plan to move. A lot of time is wasted commuting but there is no traffic jam and I just need to find better things to occupy my time during the drive. I will probably learn Spanish or something.

[jerrycates]

Find the most efficient fuel saver car if you can. That is a start to get good savings on gas on a long term basis. But if you think that saving gas comes in an instant, not really, unless you consider car pooling and break gas-costs among your peers.

[dh1989]

I commute 55 mi each way for work. Here are my strategies:

-Slow down:
55 MPH means about 40 MPG vs 35 MPG if I do 75 MPH. That's a few bucks a week there. It makes my 1 1/2 hr drive longer though, which is no fun.

-Find a shorter route:
I can take back roads out of the city (I work in Boston) late at night. I work 2nd shift so this only helps me on the ride home. On the way in everything is too congested, so I'm stuck with the longer highway route.

-Drive less:
If gas gets too expensive I live out of my car 1-2 days a week. I'm not looking forward to that and hope I don't have to get that drastic, but it's an option. I'd probably get a gym membership somewhere near work to have something to do.