Is $4.00+ gas really affecting you??

Not at all.

Several years ago, I decided to change my lifestyle to cut my energy costs. I no longer have a car but I do rent one on those few and far between occasions one is unnecessary, like when I have a date (yes I know sad commentary on my social life). Other than that I generally bike, walk or take transit. Of course I do not commute to work, my work area is adjacent to my living space or my clients fly me to their sites. But I did choose my current home location with the criteria that shopping should be in walking or biking distance and there should be easy access to bus and trains.

I've also stopped using my dishwasher and clothes dryer (they have this really cool thing that dries your clothes for free now. It's called the Sun) I run my air conditioning only when the the weather is extreme and then I do not bring the temperature down too far. I have found that by using night air to cool the house and using the AC to dehumidify and just reduce the temperature about 10 degrees, I actually find it comfortable because I get acclimatized to the heat.

I know that many others are in situation they can't really change, like having to commute to work, but as Ed Begley Jr. says, you don;t have to do it all now, just go for the low lying fruit.

My energy bills ar about 70% of what they were a year ago. It took a lifestyle change to do it, no quick fix. Added bonus, because of all that biking and walking, I've lost two inches around my waist.

The people in Canada and the US and the rest of the world are resourceful enough that we will find ways to adapt to the price of gas through grass roots lifestyle and other changes, and I have faith that necessity is still the mother of invention. We can do it as long as we don't expect the government to do something that makes sense. We could put them in charge of the Sahara Desert and within months, there would be a shortage of sand.

The gas prices have hit my family pretty hard. I live in a rural area outside of a resort town. I work in the resort town but cannot afford to live there. To find affordable housing I had to move WAY out of town. My commute is 90 miles round trip every day. Extras were haven't been feasible for awhile which is okay- seems the more simply I live the happier I am actually...but it's eating into the necessities and that's bothering me. I finding that I'm sacrificing nutritious meals to whatever's on sale and that bothers me. I grown my own vegetables but we have a short growing season here and no harvest yet. I'm thinking that I'll be doing some container gardening in the fall and winter this year. I'm hoping to have enough money to invest in some good lights to lengthen my growing season for the health of my family-

reply to post by Arbydol


Sorry to hear that. I hope it works out for you.

Not me I have a small fuel efficient car and carpool.

reply to post by wolf241e


By the way, gas is $4.59/gallon, not $4 which. The speed of the climb is what is scaring people since the rate of increase is believed to continue. Should the question be is $8/gallon in 8 months from now okay?

Secondly, it's not just the $4.59 I pay, but everyone has to pay this so costs gets added back into the cost of doing business and then the cost of all of our products. Diesel for trucks delivery milk, food, is at $5.29/gal here, and we pay for that.

reply to post by chuckk


Either ABC or CBS evening news yesterday did a segment on the airlines and randomly picked two Continental Air Lines flights, both lost money. What stood out to me was that one flight from New Jersey to Southern California cost tha air carrier more than $30,000.00 in fuel!

(by the way, when you read a good post, make sure and star it...I wrote one on page 3 where I spilled my guts out to try and show some contributing viewpoint to this whole oil issue, and so far have only recieved one star...I mean what does it take to get a star for crying out loud!)--just kidding, but I must admit I enjoy getting starred!

[edit on 12-7-2008 by skyshow]

when it takes nearly $50 a tank in my car then yeah it does affect me quite a bit. I make about 120 a week so that's 40% roughly of my weekly income spent on gas. I have a motorbike so I try to use that when it's not raining. Needless to say I have started by Kroger brand more often these days.



10% employee discount yeah!

I wonder when the herding technique they are using will stop. The trend I have noticed is that the more fuel prices (and everything associated with it) go up the more houses in the rural areas are sold to send people back into the major population areas. Stop and consider... When SitX comes down will it be easier to control those in the metropolitan areas or the rural areas where movement is harder to detect?

it really hasn't affected me at all (gas prices are higher than $4 here in Canada).

I drive ~40 km each way to work (all highway), which is about ~400 km a week, I only spend about $45 dollars on gas each week (I get good mpg).

I was paying about $30-35 a year ago, so an extra $40 dollars a month doesn't bug me. Fortunately I have no debt to worry about and the gas makes up a small percentage of my income. If gas prices changed so much that my monthly gas costs rose to something like 20% of my income (very unlikely), then I would seriously consider public transit or something else (carpooling).

Drive fuel efficient vehicles people.


[edit on 7/12/2008 by porky1981]

[edit on 7/12/2008 by porky1981]

[edit on 7/12/2008 by porky1981]

Who ever imagined a day when people were sacrificing more than half their lives just to pay for energy to use a technology that, not terribly long ago, was seen as a luxury, as opposed to a necessity?

Kind of makes you wonder what the actual motivations of the people that run these automobile and oil companies are. They do own pretty much all the governments of the world now. I mean, I've never heard any political leader anywhere discuss doing away with oil in favor of the alternatives, which do exist in abundance but are being majorly suppressed. They may peep about alternative energy during their campaigns, but they in the same breath say "let's destroy more wilderness in search of that next big oil reserve."

Remember that movie, Fern Gully?

As of right now, no. Me and my wife live below our means (as everyone should) and we get by fine without having to cut back on anything else too much.

I don't spend much money anyway. I wish I could say the same for my wife, but that's another story. We don't have kids, have one car payment, both make good money to where we can put some into savings each month as well.

I do understand it's hard for a lot of people who were already struggling before gas prices went up, but you have to budget and make good decisions. People with a huge mortgage, two car payments, a bunch of kids, credit card bills, etc. are gonna struggle, but in a lot of cases that stems from bad decisions and planning. Don't push the limits on what you can afford on a monthly basis.

I would definetly say a penny saved is a penny earned. I had a honda civic and spent maybe fifteen dollars filling up the tank i dont remember. it might have been ten bucks. but thats when gas was 98cents per gallon.

know if would cost about fifity bucks. tank of gas lasts a week. thats one hour of drive time a day. maybe some more. i think there is something going on because even poultry is being shafted. its like they are not feeding the chickens any more.

It really hasn't affected me......I didn't take a vacation this year...although I planned too........I don't run the airconditioner anymore, I carpool.....I like riding with others....really fun when you get off work and someone is running late and you have to get home, so I take an extra book. So I get my reading done more. I used to ride a 4wheeler for fun on weekends and since the gas price hike the 4 wheeler sits.....lonely and unused. The wild life up my road are grateful, I don't scare them as much. The occassional time I would eat out has stopped but that hasn't affeced me much since all the tomatoes are bad, so I guess it is safer to just eat poptarts that are cheap and if you eat them cold.......whala.....no electricity use! My dog now eats Walmarts finest dog food so I can pay for gas to work .......that is only a problem since she poops continiously now....and I have to occassionally clean it up, but for her she has actually lost weight. I heard that Phil Gramm called us all a bunch of whiners......I suppose so since I still can remember in the 90's ....I could buy top of the line everything and still had money for good dog food, go out to eat more than once a month.....could drive my self to work and to dinner and a movie if I wanted.........really the gas prices have NOT affected me much. WEll........ it is affecting those who are "whiners" I wish they would get a grip and just pay for the gas and not complain. I mean we are a nation overweight and if we don't eat, drop our insurances we can be good little socialists......awaiting our govt handout. I put less miles on my car....that is a good thing.....right?! Don't tell Phil Gramm of Tx........ I might be labeled a whiner.......speaknoevil07

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
I wonder when the herding technique they are using will stop. The trend I have noticed is that the more fuel prices (and everything associated with it) go up the more houses in the rural areas are sold to send people back into the major population areas. Stop and consider... When SitX comes down will it be easier to control those in the metropolitan areas or the rural areas where movement is harder to detect?

You make a good point.......herding technique...humm probably correct.
I live in rural america, go to church and would be classified by Obama as a "red neck"........I happen to like church, like hunting and 4wheelers...and think you should open the door for elderly....they have earned that. We are all not equal.....some are just plain lazy. My wardrobe of choice is early cammo........the later stuff isn't as realistic. You can find it at any WAlmart. A Walmart that has put many of my private business owners out of business....and most products are made in China..........china who has helped start this crisis.....when will they see that they are manipulated......when.......will someone tell me so I can get out of the way of the revolution.....or at least help??

Originally posted by wolf241e
Is it just me or has everybody else noticed that nothing has really changed due to gasoline and the price that it commands now.

it's just you. perhaps you simply don't realize the ripple effect it is having on everything from the price of food to the surcharges on airlines to the increased rail traffic to people not being able to afford to get to work and so on.

Originally posted by annestacey
My dog is allergic to dogfood so I've been cooking chicken, rice and veggies for him for several years. Recently, the vet said he needs to lose weight. Knowing that the meat is injected with junk that causes obesity,I switched to organic chicken Right now organic chicken just jumped from $6.99 to $8.99 per pound at my local Whole Foods Market. It costs me between $40 to $60 a week just to feed the dog. I'm trying to keep my personal food costs at a minimum but I only eat organic food as well (I get sick if I eat processed foods).

You have got to be kidding me. Most people don't even eat organic so your dog is appearently eating healthier than most people, lol. That's California for you I guess

I can't say gas prices are affecting me too much right now. I have heard huge increases this Winter will be seen in natural gas, and living in Minnesota I'll be using lots. Glad the apartment I just got includes heating.

Yes its affecting us pretty good.

Thank goodness we don't have to drive a lot though. Gasoline is $1.74 a litre here, which is more than $4 a gallon.

This winter's heating bill will be higher than last year. We only went through 1 tank of fuel oil for the furnace and that was almost $1,000.

Food prices are up too.

reply to post by jfj123


Well, I had to star you and agree.... I owe an apology for my insensitive comment before.

I am just trying to figure out how much more needs to happen before Americans care enough to do anything about it??

My resentment to the general population's lack of ability to care about how many ways the government allows them to be screwed, is getting to me.

So, to clarify, I feel bad for what people are going through, but obviously think it needs to get a whole lot worse before people in general care enough to take their life and their country into their own hands.


EDIT: typo

[edit on 12-7-2008 by LostNemesis]

It is time for mass release or research into alternate tech. We are still using a finite resource powered vehicle system with wheels for gods sake. For over 100 years. Does that reek of conspiracy or what

I'm cutting back on trips on my motorbike.. it's one of those really fast ones so not too fuel light, but about as much as a small car for fuel bills with 3x the power output... better than most cars fuel wise obviously.

I'm training to be a commercial pilot so I'm worried to hell.. is the $40+k loan I have take out to do so going to be even worth anything once i'm done in this current climate...?

If not what.. I'm stuck fixing computers for the rest of my life.. screw that.

Due to my income being enough to cover it, it is not stopping me but for budgets sake I am... so i dont' change my life around a stupid thing called petrol. Food prices have gone up but not too bad. YET.

We have an interesting law system in NZ which takes in to account that trucks may not haul goods paralell to train lines. So we get much stuff hauled by train in my country.. much much more effiecient than trucking. Trains will be our (world as a wholes) saviour in this day and age i'd say.

WE NEED WATER TECH!!! argggh. This oil dependance is driving me nuts. Almost to the point of experimenting myself.. they always promise water tech and then you never hear about it... funny eh.