Question Of The Day - Wednesday, May 14th!

Good morning! Grumble grumble.

Here's today's Question of the day! Grumble grumble

Now that gas prices are officially through the roof (ours hit $4/gallon yesterday), is there anything that you have started doing, or will do differently?

I haven't visited my friend in Lansing for nearly a year...and it makes me sad. She really doesn't make enough money to come visit me (because of the gas prices) and it's looking like I've been priced out of the leisure travel group now, too.

I plan to stop making separate trips to the grocery store. That chore will be done on my way home from work. I just started getting the Sunday paper for the coupons, and I will plan my trip according to the best deals. I need to go to Bay City to buy some new work shoes (5EE...nobody else carries anything that small/wide) but I'm waiting until I need to go to Bay City for something else and combine that trip.

I put in new storms and screens (hight efficiency) windows all around my house a couple years ago.

I put in an extra layer of fiberglass insulation in the attic two winters ago.

I put in an automatic thermostat on my furnace to try to regulate the energy consumption. Now I will drop the heating numbers from low 65/high 68, to low 62/hight 66 and see if it helps. My cooling numbers were 70 degrees day and night, but I'm going to see if I can stand it at 72 day and night. I'm miserable when I'm too warm, so it might not be doable...might have to do 74 during the day while I'm away, and 72 or 70 at night while I try to sleep. I'll certainly give it a try though!

I am going to call a contractor friend this evening to have him install a pet door on my back door, going out into the sunroom. For the last three years, I've left the back door opened a crack to let the kitties come and go. I KNOW there's been SIGNIFICANT loss of airconditioning because of this arrangement. I really didn't want to cut into this beautiful hardwood door, but tough times call for tough decisions. If I ever decide to sell this house, I will deal with a pet door, and possible need to replace the door at that time.

So....lets hear how you are coping. Maybe someone has ideas and suggestions that will benefit us all!!!

nope..I take a bus to and from work.....my dh drives the car..but its a short drive to his work..and its a 4 cylndar car..so....the gas mileage is actually pretty good

Luckily work, shopping, everything I basically need are within walking distance of my home so the gas prices don't really affect me personally. I have always walk to work except on those days I need to pick more then I can carry.
Small town no public transit.
However, both my brother and sister live out in the country about an hours drive from town and they have both really felt the crunch..I know they have cut down on driving a lot..

At home I try to be as energy efficient as possible but that mainly relates to hydro prices as oppose to gas..

Ours are $3.95 as of this morning, and I feel it too.

I don't live too far from my job (about 3 miles), but I have cut a lot of driving out of my life. We don't visit my husband's family very often (once a month) and they live about 1/2 hour away, and we don't visit MY family hardly at all, because they live over two hours away. I mail all payments or pay online. I organize shopping trips so that I can just make one trip to several places. I don't visit Ft. Wayne (about an hour away) anymore for shopping. I just order things online now, and I order many things at once so that I get cheaper or no shipping. The shipping charges are often less than the trip would cost. As far as energy at home goes, I luckily live in a very energy efficient apartment, so I don't have to cut back much there!

All of this, and I have a small 4 cylinder car. My budget is pretty tight, though, but gas prices are ridiculous.

Gas prices are horrible!!! I don't know how we are going to deal with this for much longer!

I walk to work, I walk to the bank, I walk to the grocery store. I NEVER used to walk! I hope they allow horses in town again!

Not a morning person huh?

Since we live in an apartment there's not much I can do at home but I did switch our lamps to the energy efficient light bulbs.

We try to keep the thermostat off as much as possible.

I don't drive a lot to begin with but I've been thinking about biking to work (less than 4 miles) 2-3 times a week not only to save gas but to improve my health. If I'm not that ambitious I'll at least bring my lunch to work to save driving home for lunch.

We use the fabric grocery bags when shopping so as not to pollute the land fills with plastic bags. If we don't have ours (I forget them at home a lot) we'll ask for paper then.

And when we do have a little one to diaper I plan on using g-diapers. They are the perfect cross between cloth & disposable. They have an outer reusable shell and the liners are completely biodegradable and even flushable!

We're working on getting our old Beetle and Volkswagen truck on the road... they'll get 35-40 mpg compared to John's Mustang that currently gets 28 or so mpg.

Originally Posted by bnwalker2

We're working on getting our old Beetle and Volkswagen truck on the road... they'll get 35-40 mpg compared to John's Mustang that currently gets 28 or so mpg.

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That is some excellent gas mileage! I drive a '99 Dodge Intrepid and only get about 20 mpg.

Originally Posted by twstychik

Not a morning person huh?

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Actually, I'm pretty much a morning person because of my job. I only revert to not being a morning person if I'm on vacation for longer than a weekend!

The grumble, grumble was due to the gas prices...ooops...I feel another grumble coming on....

Ours hasn't hit 4 dollars yet but it's coming.

I find that if I need something at the store, I try to combine several trips into one to save gas.

as far as gas prices I'm not really sure there is much I can personally do, I drive to and from work (35 miles both ways ), if I have to stop at the store I do so on my way home, and I go to my mom's every Sunday evening (about a 20 minute drive), but I seriously do not drive any other time! I have a 2004 Chrysler Sebring and it gets 25-27 mpg

grumble grumble indeed! Gas prices are so ridiculous. I drive a very fuel efficient car (Honda Civic - 36 mpg average), but now I am making myself drive the speed limit and trying avoid quick stops and starts in order to improve my fuel economy even more. I try to combine shopping trips. That's about all I can do for now. I gotta get to work, and there's no public transportation available.

DH, on the other hand, could do WAY more to ease the situation. He drives a huge pickup truck and I cry everytime he fills up the tank - it costs $100 to fill it up! *sob sob sob* I wish he had a more fuel efficient vehicle, but I don't think we can really afford to buy another car right now.

Mostly, I work from home so commuting isn't that much of an issue. I try to combine trips as much as possible and plan my route to be as efficient for time and gas use as possible. Unfortunately, I have started driving my mom's land barge (Buick Park Avenue) instead of my Honda Accord b/c it has 100K fewer miles on it ... but... it only gets about 22 mpg combined. My Honda ( 6 cyl) gets about 25. I am planning to fix up and sell the Honda - so I don't want to put too many more miles on it.

My boyfriend lives about 35 miles away. He has been taking public transit out this way for some time now as a way to save on me going to get him. We are also planning some more close-in trips as a cost-savings overall.

I am also more mindful of food costs - and NOT wasting food. HATE throwing out food!!!

Sigh......

Nope, it doesn't really phase me. Its only an extra $4 on a fill up..nothing to get stressed about.

Higher Gas Prices really make no difference for us...

I try to combine all our trips into Concord into one big afternoon trip. I also go grocery shopping and go to Blockbuster on my way home, instead of coming home, getting my boyfriend, and going back out like we used to. Other than that, I haven't really done much.

I live out of town, so I have to commute to work, but otherwise my husband and I make absolutely no extra trips for fun anymore. Luckily everything that we really need is in walking distance (or at the most, a very short drive) from our apartment. It is just disappointing to not go out to our favorite restaurants or go to the movies much anymore. When we do have a "date", it's after I get off work and we are already in town. I'm usually too tired to enjoy myself. Oh well. You do what you have to do.

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Nope, it doesn't really phase me. Its only an extra $4 on a fill up..nothing to get stressed about.

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I just remember filling up my gas tank (different car, same sized tank) for twenty dollars five years ago, and now it costs forty. That is a big difference, I think. It is for me, anyway.