Are you living your lives differently due to gas prices?
 

Here on Oahu it's about 2.80 for regular.

A friend of mine said he just puts up with it, but won't let it affect how he lives his life.

On the other hand, it is affecting me. Though I can afford it, I find myself actually thinking, "do I need to really make this trip?" I must say, I don't like the feeling that kind of thinking is generating for me....sort of not having control of things....

I'm tempted to just pay the bucks and keep doing what I want.

Fortunately we live near "downtown" and do a lot of walking. Unfortunately right now it's Florida's rainy season and hotter than hell, so the walking is taking a back seat, but it doesn't cost that much to drive a few blocks.

Meanwhile my car gets about 15 mpg, and my partner's gets about 35 mpg, so if I'm driving a bit more, I take his car. Now if it just cools off a bit so I can put his top down, I may claim his car all the time.

My little car is 14.5 years old and only has 71,000 miles on it. That tells you how much I drive! So now instead of filling up my tank every other week for $10, it costs me $20.

I used to be able to walk to work, but now with my new job I can't so I guess I'll be spending even MORE on gas.....but other than that I can walk everywhere else.

Definitely. While I am fortunate to have a vehicle that gets about 29 mpg in the city, I live 10 miles out of town and plan my trips in to pack in as many errands as I can at once. I often will not go in for several days in a row. Cost me $28 to top my tank off yesterday - it was half full at the time. Used to take $20-22 to fill it. We all have this same story though.

What is hurting us is our business's fuel bills - running 5 large trucks, two excavators and various other vehicles are really stretching our fuel budget - and tiny 5% fuel surcharges don't help at all.

It will only worsen now with the tragedy in the south. I must remember that while I complain about fuel prices others are in far worse shape than I am at the moment.

So now you're actually pondering whether you're wasting shared resources now that it is affecting your finances? Maybe this increase in gas prices is a good thing after all...might wake us all up.

As for that feeling of "not having things in control"...that speaks volumes. I'd get used to it if I were you. What made you feel that you ever were in control?

No, we are not living our life any differently due to gas prices. A friend of mine, however, told me today that she bought locking gas caps for their vehicles.

The price of the monthly bus pass didn't go up.

Maybe the air tickets will go up and force me to travel less, I don't know yet.

USA Today reports that jet fuel went up 22% in two days - how can that not affect airline ticket prices?

I don't have a car, so not really, but I rented one for a short trip last weekend (somewhere the train doesn't go) and I couldn't believe how much it cost to fill it up only a quarter of a tank.

It really hasn't changed the way I drive as I have always tried to "group" errands together so that I am not driving to the same area day after day, unlike a lot of my neighbors! Being retired allows me to do this...I feel so sorry for everyone that has a long commute, which is very typical where I live, and of course know how serious the high gasoline prices are for anyone in business. One way or another it is affecting everyone.

I was just thinking about this very question this morning at 6:00 a.m. as I was sitting in this huge line at Costco to buy gas.

99% of my driving is the work/school commute, so I don't really have a choice but to put up with it - but I'm nervously wondering how high the cost per gallon is going to go.

I know we can all play the "I remember when" game - but I'm especially reminded when I was complaining about paying $2.20 a gallon just a few months ago, it seems. With prices surely on the rise, that seems like a bargain now.

Oh, Melissa, I thought my aging car had the least amount of miles on it! Mine's also 14 plus years and has 75,000 miles on it, and I live in L.A.! I also have a 6 year old car that just reached 8,000 miles, but I work 1.5 miles from home and like to bike to work in summer. No, haven't changed anything. We never bought into SUVs or other gas guzzlers and doubt we ever will. I can still remember the '74 "oil crisis" when it cost 25 cents for a gallon.

I decided to retire last month, in part because I was really tired of the 2 hour daily commute for the past 32 years. And I don't regret the decision for one minute! My husband works about 1 mile away and drives his motorcycle to the Harley office where he works. We are doing as little driving as possible, combining trips.

We are saving major amounts on transportation costs as a result, in addition to less spending due to less shopping--if you're not out there, you can't spend it. We are using Netflix for movie rentals, and Internet for as many purchases as possible. The only time we leave home is for social events, groceries or dining out. I'm sure others are thinking about getting out of the rat race, and the commuting costs are only icing on the cake. This could impact the economy in the future.

Employers would do themselves a big favor by expediting telecommuting options where possible. My former employer was planning to do that, and encouraged me to stay until they had that in place. However, it was at least 5 years away and I just couldn't stand any more of that commute! Employers are concerned about losing high skilled employees with experience and a good work ethic, and they will lose many more baby boomers who find it is not to their economic advantage to pay commuting expenses. I will probably go back to work somewhere part time, but it will be close to home, versus the 18 mile commute I used to make--I can't imagine how people who have to commute long distances are doing it!

Nope!
M

We don't drive a heck of a lot to begin with so higher gas prices haven't affected us - we live close to my office, DH takes the train to work, we group our errands as a matter of course. We also get good gas mileage on our car - not so with the truck, but then we only take the truck to the hardware store and occasionally camping.

Nope.

The prices are not changing our habits much, if at all. We already lump errands together, etc. We recently started to carpool for the kids activities, but that was before this week and the rapid rise in gas prices. It has been nice to not have to drive every evening for those. Of course I did debate about cancelling my trip to Seattle on Friday, but I still need to go.

I wouldn't doubt it if those taxi drivers here got that fare increase they've been clamoring for due to the price of gas, because if they don't, I bet a lot of taxi-drivers will start looking for other jobs rather than having to shell out prices like what we are seeing now. If this continues, it could cause some serious transportation problems in taxi dependant areas. I only take taxis a couple times a month or so (when I load up with groceries or stay out very late, which I don't do that often), but I do sort of rely on them when I need and/or want one, if they disappeared or became more scace and significantly more expensive then it certainly would change how I 'lived my life' (granted I'd probably get on okay if they did making adjustments to use them even less, but it would be that much more difficult). And I'm sure I'm not alone.

I have where I can. Unfortunately, I cannot take public transportation to work, but my commute is approximately 8 miles one way. I group my errands together, and do them so there is a minimum amount of driving. However, I have cut out extraneous trips and only use the A/C when I simply cannot stand it. (Thank goodness I live in So Cal and it hasn't been too hot lately)

The only problem I have is that my car is the only one amongst my friend and co-workers that can take 5 passengers very comfortably so everyone always wants me to drive. It gets difficult to put up with attitudes when I tell them I don't want to waste the gas taxing people around!

Hi chele60, if your friends and coworkers want you to play "taxi" personally I would tell them to all pitch in for the cost of gasoline. Any considerate person would IMHO without even being asked. Best wishes.