I worry about those who are barely making it now with the rising gas prices.

What are they going to do when food and supplies go up because gas prices have made delivery trucks double their cost of delivering?

I worry a lot about gas prices. I live in a town that only has a small grocery store but with very BIG prices. I need to drive 5-7 miles to the closest supermarket to do my shopping.

Needless to say, I try and get as many errands done while I am out. I am really trying to use one full tank of gas a week or less. This includes traveling to work, picking kids up at activities and the daily driving needed. Nothing Extra.

I still spend over $38.00 per week. I don't even drive one of those big SUV's, just a station wagon.

How are you guys with the SUV's surviving?

I don't worry per se, however I am concerned for rising gas costs, along with everything else rising because of the gas prices.

Its something I can't control though, so I try and adjust what I can in our area of finances and hope for the best for everyone else.

I do understand though that there will be many people suffering because of these gas prices.

Worry every day. Gas is $267.9 around here. ( regular unleaded )
( super is $283.9 )

I forgot to add that or trash company has already started to charge a fueling fee.

We are being charged $3.85 per month extra for fuel!

I may start to bring my own trash to the dump. It would take a lot more time but I would save a lot more money.

That's one reason why I'm working weekends only. Less travel. They're going to schedule me for 2 eight hr shifts instead of 3 five hr shifts. Less gas. Can't afford it their way!

Graci

i only work 2 miles away so i don't have it bad, but dh makes a 39 mile round trip dn adds alot more when he is on call once a week. our gas is 2.59 a gallon right now and i worry what it will go to.

I worry more about the cost of other things going up because of rising fuel prices than I do my own personal use. I know I'm using as little as I can. But I also know, in the grand scheme of things my usage doesn't amount to squat. Not when we have huge diesel trucks, planes, trains that need/use more than I ever can.

My dh works for an equipment company. They charge a flat rate for moving equipment. When he first started there the beginning of July, the flat rate was $550. It's now over $800 :eek:

I am concerned about the rising cost of fuel. Absolutley! My dh commutes 100 miles a day. Regular unleaded is averaging $2.65 a gallon, here.
If the OPEC'ers can charge us an arm and a leg for oil, than what's to keep us from charging them through the nose for food? :mad:

I definitely am. That is why I am going as frugal as i am in preparation. All I can do is take care of those in my little universe. I am also debating about getting another job. I don't know if the fuel is worth it, or that some of my frugal habits are hard to do when working.

Yes I do!  Gas ois 2.69.9 here. Dh has a 40 mile commute one way 4 days a week. He bought a kia so it is small and efficient but it still really adds up.
I have a 30 mile one way commute 2-3 days a week. My car is bigger and ouch!
Dh is a truckdriver also. The company is passing on a surcharge to the company they deliver for which in turn will raise prices for consumers MORE.
Grocery prices seem to really be climbing in our area.
We have a very small very expensive grocery here. However to really shop or buy anything else its a 30 mile drive.

I am pretty concerned. Its hard to know what to think about the situation --- SOMEBODY is getting rich. I do think that the "trickle down" effect is going to be serious --- EVERYTHING will be more expensive because if it isn't made with petroleum products then it requires gasoline/diesel to transport it.

Our society (western culture) requires a serious readjustment of our mindset and a recognition that the days of readily available fuel are numbered.

And as far as what is in store this winter --- goodness only knows. Its going to be "interesting".

I went to the store yesterday. It is about 40 miles to where I go. Gas here is $2.45, so far. The prices are too high to make it on dh check alone, so I have to go back to work. I have a saturn that gets pretty good milage. The job I am applying is 2-10, so I will just have to make late night trips to the store to save a little on gas costs. No extra trips.

Originally posted by jlxian
SOMEBODY is getting rich.
That's for sure. I know Exxon's making a huge profit, according to info I saw on the 'Today' show last week. I suspect other oil companies are getting much richer,too.

My dh works 50 miles from home we are spending over $100 a week in gas between 3 drivers. But more than the gas I am worried about the oil prices and how many with families with small children will go without heat this winter.

I am worried. Actually, I have been going over our expenses with a fine tooth comb to find where we can cut back to the bare minimum, and I've been putting some applications in to go back to work.

Very worried! DH has a 30 mile one way commute to work. I work in various places, some of those are 40 miles one way! The nearest grocery store is 9 miles away.

We definitely worry and is one of the main reasons we want to get out of this apartment. We have oil heat and even though we have natural gas on the street our landlords will not let DH put in a natural gas furnace that will be cheaper for us. Even if he supplied the conversion parts himself for free! Not that natural gas is necessarily a good solution to our problem, but it would make it a little easier. We have no alternative source of heat and that has always bothered me, even when fuel prices were cheaper.

I live 2.6 miles from work and have been walking three to four days a week, too and from work to save on fuel. Also DH and I have been riding tandum on his motorcycle to save on fuel as well.

Yes I am concerned. Income levels do not rise along with prices so we will need to make do with alittle less. I think we need to take a good look at how we use our gas and energy and try to conserve. I am trying not to make any unnecessary trips and redefining what I consider "necessary" If I can combine errands so much the better.
I also have concerns on heating costs for the winter so I intend to start nagging DH to check for air leaks and put plastic on the windows in the fall.
I think everything will rise in price this winter so I need to prepare as best I can.

A little. I worry that everything else will go up in price as well due to the gas hike.

We live in a small, rural town and must travel to another town for medical, dental, groceries, EVERYTHING! DH even has to travel for work. Now DS#1 is traveling M-F to school. He is taking a vocational class at another high school that works out a plan with our high school. So we have 3 vehicles on the roads M-F. I am glad I have a very short commute.

Some school districts around us are cutting out bus transportation due to the cost of fuel. With the state of Texas in limbo on their school finance plan, some districts are able to afford the cost.

It seems like once a week or so our UPS Shipping software updates with a new Fuel percentage update :bang:

Today I filled my car up as the light just came on (I wanted to see how far I could get since filling up last Monday) and it cost $30.00.

It's getting so I don't want to drive anywhere, but to work and stop by the store or library on the way home

I'm not so much worried as I am irritated. I think gas prices are outrageous!! :mad:

We'll still get out and do what we have to do, but I'll be annoyed while pumping my gas.

Today, I called our gas company (heating) and asked them to put us on the budget plan. YAY! Now, our bill will be one flat rate regardless of the raising prices. Thank goodness!

I AM worried about people that have a hard time paying for their heating bill as it is, though. I read something somewhere that mentioned that the assistance they offer people that need it may not be readily available this year. Does that mean people will be cold?! Ugh... now THAT worries me! :(

ETA: I drive a minivan and it gets pretty good gas mileage, believe it or not. It's not that bad really. We've been scouting some bigger family sedans so I can trade up though--less gas. Hopefully, that'll happen soon.

Yes, but I'm trying not to be.

Originally posted by Mom23boys
A little. I worry that everything else will go up in price as well due to the gas hike.

We live in a small, rural town and must travel to another town for medical, dental, groceries, EVERYTHING! DH even has to travel for work. Now DS#1 is traveling M-F to school. He is taking a vocational class at another high school that works out a plan with our high school. So we have 3 vehicles on the roads M-F. I am glad I have a very short commute.

Just replace DS with a DD and we have almost exactly the same situation. Our town consists of about 100 people, a post office, a fire hall, and an elementary school so everything must be done in the nearest city about 30 miles away.

We are trying to cut back on extra trips into town. My SO has been running errands for us after work or on his lunch hour while he is in town. I still have to do the grocery shopping but am thinking about cutting back to every two weeks and seeing how that goes.

I'm worried. The area in which we live is not walkable by any means. This city (Charlotte, NC) was built for drivers, not walkers. That's really frustrating. You have to drive everywhere you need to go. I drive about 15-18 miles to work and used to spend just about $10 -$15 a week for gas. Now it's more about $25 or so. DH has a shorter commute, but less-efficient vehicle, so the only place it goes is to work and back. He is a truck driver and oh yeah, prices will be going up. He carries Office Depot products and they have already slapped a new fuel charge on their customers.

Question to ask the oil mogul's: How much is enough?
:(

Graci

Last winter tomatoes were going $3.00 a lb because of the hurricane. This year I canned over 30 qts. and still working on it. I'm taking any produce that the neighbors have extra and canning it.

Stocking up on powdered milk, and just plain old basic neccessities. If you don't run out in the middle of the week or month you don't have to make an extra trip.

Stocking up on instant mashed potatoes, etc. because prices went up on potatoes to about $4 a 10 lb bag last winter.

Stocking up on tuna and corned beef (corned beef is $1 at the dollar store). I can make the best beef barbecue sandwiches out of that corned beef and tuna is good for a lot of casseroles.

Stocking up on any little thing I can get my hands on. Produce is cheap right now, if you can't freeze it or can it, try drying it. Those are things you can control.

Cigarettes have gone up too. $4 per carton just this year. We went to RYO and are very happy with it. My costs doing roll-your-own went down to half price or less. We actually smoke less of the RYO than we did in the pack because we think before we light up.

Our smoke budget was almost $250 a month. It is now $60 a month that is with filters (we don't stuff tubes we roll it with the filter tips that Top Tobacco makes). Walmart carries regular top tobacco and we requested for them to carry the menthol and the filters. Papers come in the can.

Until they start getting it in, we go up to one of the major cities and buy it a month at a time. We still save money even with the gas.

We are checking into home ethanol production. Permit from ATF is free, make up to 10,000 gallons a year and minimal changes on the older trucks and cars. Some of the newer cars are E85 ready that's 85% ethanol and the rest gasoline.

You can burn ethanol in any oil burning stove that has a carborator by adjusting the jets.

Very worried, I drive 80 miles a day & at $2.75 the money has to come fromsomewhere. I'm looking at the budget really hard. cau

I'm not too worried. I think that america and canada need to change the daily life of oil dependance. Oil is finite we should treat it like such. Just got back from montreal where it was equivilant to around $4 per gallon. Youb see a lot of small cars drivingf around and the same in europe. I think people need to start planning their life accordingly.

Gas just jumped her again today. It is now 2.74 up from 2.69 yesterday.:(

I don't worry about gas prices per se. This alone will not break our budget. But I have changed my driving behavior to save some gas where I can - I fill up early in the morning, don't drive too fast, accelerate and brake slowly, and don't use a/c in the car. It will be interesting to see whether these changes have an effect on my gas usage.

I'm also grateful that both dh and I have reasonably fuel-efficient cars and moderate commutes - one tank usually lasts each one of us for two weeks.

for those of you concerned about your own usage...
see if your car is "fuel flexible"

http://e85fuel.com/information/vin.php

ethanol 85 is only 2.09 here (whereas reg gas is 2.49) AND it supports American farmers!!!
:)

I am not overly worried right now, but, like someone else mentioned, I'm ANNOYED!! The high prices are such a sham. You know it can't possibly be costing THAT much! These companies are just using the reports as an excuse to make HUGE hikes all the time. Ticks me off.

I only worry because I know next Feb through Sept we'll have to be cutting back in spending anyway because we're moving and having a transitional period where I will still be paying for my son to go to private Kindergarten and then one last summer in private daycare. After he goes into public for 1st grade, things will lighten up A LOT, but those few months worry me, and lwer gas prices would help a lot!!

My SO commutes to work about 100 miles per day... We also drive on weekends things aren't really "walkable" where I am, I drive my son to school, and back, and drive to work... soo... yeah it sucks!

Thanks for the link...shame there's only one station in VA that sells E85.

Don't remember if this is already posted elsewhere on FV, but I use the following link to compare prices:

http://www.gasbuddy.com

It really helps you see where is the best price, and you can search by your location, etc. In my area, Costco gas is the cheapest (at $2.67 :surprise: ), and that's where I've been filling up exclusively for the last few months.

Thanks for the site. It will come in very handy.

Yes, because my husband has a business that depends on heavy equipment that I just couldn't see strapped to the top of a Smart Car. Right now he pays about $100 CAD to fill up. Fortunately that goes a long way. If gas prices rise more, so will his prices to customers, or we'd be in the red.

I am more annoyed that worried. I know that oil is more about supply and demand - and that its not just OPEC that's causing rising prices. Russia isn't doing that great (Siberia has the largest reserves in the world) and South America also isn't doing that well politically. Also, I believe that the biggest factor driving up oil prices is speculation - similar to why house prices keep going up, everyone thinking that they can buy it and just re-sell it in a few months with a huge profit. Once a particular market gains that kind of momentum, its just really hard to stop. Mind you, this is JMHO - I tend to follow the economy and the stock market, and I haven't heard anyone else say this yet. The only thing I've heard experts say that I tend to believe is "We'll see $100 a barrel oil before we see $30 a barrel oil." (I head this when oil was about to break $50, maybe a year ago)

An interesting side note is that if you compare increases in heating oil to increase in gasoline, the increases in heating oil are far less. Mind you, the prices have gone up, but not nearly as much as gas has. I'm not quite sure why this is.

I also want to disclose that DH and I own stock in ExxonMobile, and strongly encourage everyone to go fill up there on the $.05 off day :D (Sunday around here)

I guess from a budgetary standpoint I'm far more worried about the increases in healthcare costs that I am about gas prices. I have been driving more slowly and been more conscious about combining errands than I have in the past. I've actually noticed the difference last time I filled up. I always go by the trip odometer, not the gas gauge since its a little wonky. Usually I fill up when the trip odometer says 315-320 and I put in around 11.5 gallons. This last time I filled up at 335 and only put in 10.5 gallons. We are going to trade in DH's vehicle next year for something more fuel efficient.

The etanol 85 gas is sold in the town I work in at 1 station. It is .50 cheaper per gallon. That is probably worth driving the 10 extra miles across town to fill up my taurus.

My SUV is sucking my purse dry!! I drive only when absolutely necessary (work, groceries, etc.) and I combine as many errands as I can into one trip, but I am still feeling the crunch at the gas station. It takes me almost $100 to completely fill my tank!! It makes me want to throw up every time I drive up to the gas station! If I hadn't gone back to work a couple of years ago, we would be having hard times just from gas prices alone!!

Originally posted by Telephus44

I guess from a budgetary standpoint I'm far more worried about the increases in healthcare costs that I am about gas prices.

I'm afraid I'm gonna *need* healthcare if gas prices go up any further. :wink: I 'bout had a heart attack when gas went up to $2.67 a gallon recently.