[broke2007]

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...:dis:

 

[FrugalMomof3]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

the other side of the coin

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]

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]

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

 

[rebecca]

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]

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]

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]

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]

It was 2.95 when I went to fill up tonight.:bs:
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]

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.

 

[mustang80]

I spend about $140.00 per month on gas. Thankfully, $100.00 is covered by a stipend I receive from my job due to having to drive to the main office every day. (It's only 2 miles away, they overpay me really). I still find it hard to scrape up the $40 now that I'm used to the help. The hundred doesn't go very far when gas is $3.00 per gallon. I get 1 1/2 fillups with that money. We've cut out day trips the last few years, I turn my car off in the bank line, never letting it idle out that precious gas. In 2 years I hope to buy a smaller car to replace my minivan. That way I will get better gas mileage.

I taught DD to fill her tank every payday, that way it will last. She has a Saturn, and doesn't drive very many places. It gets good gas mileage.

 

[frugalnana]

I don't work right now. But dh spends about $65 a week in gas. He drives 30 miles each way to work. Our son's car has some minor problems at the moment so he drives mine. But they both call before coming home and ask me if I need anything. It really saves on gas. Plus now if anyone of them need to do something before coming home, they do it. Before each used to come home, shower, change and go back out.
We always fill each car up on Sunday. By Thursday dh has to fill back up. I don't until Sunday. It was 2.56 a gallon when I was out yesterday. I'm hoping it will stay that way until tomorrow. I still have half a tank.
We upped our deductible on our autos, which brought the preimum down. Plus dh and I have good driving records and that put us in a different category. We paid $276 a month and now pay $134. If I know I'm going out, I make a list of everything I need to do and plan my route.
When it gets warmer I think I'm going to start walking to the stores like, dollar general, Sav-a-lot and super Walmart. I think its about 3 - 5 miles from our home. My son has a big back pack he doesn't use anymore. Plus I'm not sure but there used to be a bus that came to Super Walmart, so if I really needed to save even more I could walk there and take a bus to the North End.

 

[Guest]

It will be tough to budget the first few months, since you probably won't have a really good handle on how much your driving until then. But congratulations on the car! I have a 1997 Nissan Sentra, and it runs great. I'm getting around 28 MPG with mostly local stop and go city driving right now.

Way we save:
1. We look at the gas prices and fill up at the cheaper stations. There is also one near us that has $.05 off on Sunday, so we might fill up there on the way to or from church.
2. Combine errands, and plan your trips before you leave so that you're not doubling back or driving to places in opposite directions. I have several different post offices and bank branches I visit depending on where I have to go that day.

 

[HandyMom]

I would share a ride if I had to save. Like when our family has a get-together and I drive to my sister's and ride with them to my parent's home and back. Last time I picked them up on my way instead to save them on gas.

Maybe you could give someone a ride on your way to work and they could pay for gas or run errands and shop for someone near where you live who can't drive and have them pay you for gas. I would advertise in the local news and see what happens. Someone may be looking for a ride to near where you have to drive all the time.

 

[MandiDawn]

I budget $30 a week for gas - or really $60 every two weeks since I get paid bi-weekly. I put it in an envelope in my car and only use it for gas. That should get me to work and back (70 miles round-trip) and I usually have some leftover. I don't drive much anywhere else. All errands are preformed on my way home from work. When I get enough left-over built-up, I use taht money for an oil-change. I chose $30 since when gas is up to $3.00/gal I still ahve enough.