How do you deal with gas prices?

**broke2007** · 03-09-2007, 12:53 PM

This may be a stupid question....but how do you budget for gas? It fluctuates so much, and it's SO expensive right now. Monday it was $2.50 here. Last night it was $.2.80. It's ridiculous. On a low income with so many bills, I'm not sure how I'm going to manage gas, insurance, and the repairs on the car. One day, yes, I'll have a savings account for vehicle related expenses, right now tho, I dont have that. I dont even have enough to pay my bills. Its just....overwhelming.

I know some of you are thinking "well if you cant afford the car, why are you getting it?"

Im getting a 1998 Nissan Sentra for $700 from a friend, making payments. I need the car because I live in the middle of nowhere, and a car is required for me to get a job. I only make $100 a week now, and I therefor HAVE to get a job. I cant survive like this. I guess I'm just frustrated...

**FrugalMomof3** · 03-09-2007, 02:01 PM

I loath the gas prices right now, each day going up anywhere from 3-10cents a gallon, it's a pain in the butt.

I just dont drive anywhere I dont need to, therefore my full tank will last longer, I also dont go shopping much either (grocery, clothes, etc..) so that's extra money, remember to keep a little extra on hand for these types of price changes or cut down on another thing/bill (phone features, eating out, buy less food, lower bills by conserving) to make up for the price difference in gas.

**cheappearls** · 03-09-2007, 02:09 PM

I used to plan on spending $100 a month on gas with just DH driving to and from work. Most of the time we didn't need that full $100. I would just put money on a Walmart card (3 cents off a gallon doing it that way too

) to use at that gas station, anything left just goes towards the next month. Now that we have the motorcycle, we should only be spending $50 a month.

You can always check out sites like gaspricewatch.com and gasbuddy.com to find the cheapest gas prices there.

**Marie78** · 03-09-2007, 02:17 PM

While I have been unemployed I keep cutting my car driving down. For the last few months, each month I have only made a few trips in my car to visit family or buy food at Aldi. I filled my tank up at the end of January and I am still using the same tank of gas to get around. It has a little less than half a tank right now. I might add a little more gas to the tank this Sunday, I am not sure if I will be able to afford to fill the tank, but I'll have to see what the prices are that day.

**northernmom2boys** · 03-09-2007, 02:22 PM

We dont enjoy the high prices but we do need to get around.Being frugal is one thing and trying to save money in other ways is great but we still need to live.

**monkeywrangler71** · 03-09-2007, 03:22 PM

I overestimated my gas budget to accommodate price increases. The last few weeks I've been trying not to go out unless absolutely necessary, just to stretch the tank a bit further.

**nktigger99** · 03-09-2007, 04:38 PM

I have a different view then most people on gas prices.

My family runs a very small machine shop. When I say small I mean we have three people working there...me, my dad and my brother. We deal with oil well parts mainly...just a few odd jobs from other stuff here and there. My father has been in business for 25 years...he started the business right around the time I was born because he had two kids to raise on his own. There were many hard years growing up...one year his take home came to a grand total of 600.00. We had our best year this past year and going to be having a pretty good year this year. I am not saying that to brag believe me because I know tomorrow it could all go down hill and we would be out of jobs. But we see it as about time that all the hard work my father has put into this business and he is finally able to see the up side. Starting this we had 250,000 dollars worth of business debt. We have right at 50,000.00 right now. Also my father had a heart attack 3 years ago and we don't have insurance so we do have the 82,000.00 hosptial bill but we will get to that soon.

I gulp every time I have to fill my tank up just like you (I live on a tight budget also) but I also know that everyone deserves there day. My dad is so relieved that he can finally get us out of debt so when he dies he will be leaving us with a great assest not just piles of debt.

There are a lot of hard working people in the oil business that have lived through very hard times...so it is nice to see some good come for them...and I ain't talking about my family.

Nichole in Oklahoma

P.S. Please no flames...this is my opinions based on my life...everyone can have there own opinions.

**Grayce** · 03-09-2007, 05:03 PM

I have a van and a small car. I drive the small car 99% of the time. I only use the van if there is a specific reason that I need it. That keeps my gas costs down.

**ScrapMama** · 03-09-2007, 05:38 PM

I just try to limit how often I go out and where I'm going.

**rebecca** · 03-09-2007, 06:01 PM

Just go to work and back. One thing nice where I work at if I need something from the grocery story just about a quarter of a mile down are several grocery stores, retail stores, and thrift shops. Saves me alot of money on gas. Last month I spent $75 on gas. Trying to keep it lower this month, but I doubt it if the prices continue to rise.

**dcompton** · 03-09-2007, 07:30 PM

Since the prices have been going up so quickly, I am stopping more often to fill up, even if it only takes 3 or 4 gallons. I figure that way I keep the cheapest possible gas in the car -- at least seems to make sense to me. On the other hand, I am also driving around with the extra weight of the fuller tank, so is it cost effective? I don't know. At least I feel like I trying. I drive right by my station on the way home, so it's not out of my way to stop more often. I also try to consolidate trips and not go out as often, but it seems this last couple of weeks I have had to do a lot of extra driving. I hope that's coming to an end. Fortunately, most of the places I shop are very close. I wish I lived closer to work, and thought for one crazy evening of moving when my lease is up soon, but it would take a lot of gas to balance out the cost of a move, which is always far more expensive than I anticipate. Not worth it.

**Kitten20** · 03-09-2007, 09:14 PM

It generally costs me between $15 and $20 (has been as high as $25) to fill up. I budget for $30 and put whatever is left in savings.

**nwmissourigal** · 03-09-2007, 09:38 PM

It is hard for me to save on gas. I drive 40 miles one way to work. Which is my choice because I choose to live in the country. I am not a town dweller. So I combine my trips and do things after work to save some gas money. My dh on the other hand has a semi truck that he has to buy fuel for because this is our buisness, but the fuel is killing us. We are not making the money we used to because of the fuel prices. Diesel for 1 truck costs betweent 3200 and 4000 grand a month depending on the price. I don't know how much longer we will be able to afford this, but my husband has been trucking for 30 years and it is all he knows. He is hoping to retire in about 4 years so hopefully we can hold out. The gas prices are just outta site and I fear they will be worse by summer.

**chatterweb** · 03-09-2007, 10:52 PM

It was 2.95 when I went to fill up tonight.

Why it is so high, is beyond me...
So I put nine dollars in only.

We are going up to the desert this Sunday. It is always cheaper up there, so I will wait and buy a full tank there.

I also always remind myself that I have a small economy car with 4 cylindars and manuel transmission.

If I get really defiant, I can park 2 miles from home and ride the train for free into work...

**FrugalWitch** · 03-10-2007, 01:32 PM

I plan my routes so I can do multiple things on one trip. Taking DH back and forth to work each day I pass 3 gas stations and 2 grocery stores. Going to Mom's I pass the library, waterworks, AL power office and one more grocery store.

So, since I have to go to Momma's daily I just gather up my bills and pay them en route, get my books at library while I'm at it. Whenever Moma needs errands run I again combine as much as possible into a single trip. Much as I hate, loathe and despise driving I'm doing it 7 days a week.