Gas here ranges starts at $3.89 and up. We had been car-free for about 6 years. We bought a car in February. It takes about $37 to fil up our gas tank in our neon. We don't travel by car much except for doctor appts and our weekly park days (but with the heat we have not been top the park much). Everything is pretty accessible where we live that we can walk.
Gas here is about 3.74 per gallon which is a bit cheeper than for most of you. Our problem is, my husband drives almost 60 miles to work and 60 miles back each day. We spend alot on gas every month. We are talking almost enough to make a morgage payment! We are thinking of doing just that, moving closer to his work and using all the money we are spending on gas to pay for the new house. I do like it here and really hate to move but it looks like if this keeps up we may have to move or my husband will have to quit his job.
What is wrong with this country when hardworking Americans have to quit their jobs because they can't afford to drive to work anymore? That is terrible. I feel for all of you that have to commute to work in order to make a living. We are blessed that dh can ride his bike to work, we certainly could not afford the gas bill if we lived far from his work.
Thanks. It really has put a strain on our budget and if it keeps going we really are going to have to do something. I would really hate for him to have to quit his job because its one of the only good jobs around here but with the distance, and these gas prices, I dont know how much longer we can keep doing this. We may just move if we can get a loan for a house. From what I have heard its alot harder to get a house loan these days with all of these people loosing their houses. They arent eager to loan out more money to people because of all of these forclosures. I guess we will see once we go and apply for a loan. I guess there is one bright side (if we do get the loan) houses have dropped in price so much that we can get a nice house for cheap.
The thing that really stinks about this is, in my area we are in the middle of a gas boom. It is natural gas but I have heard people in the "know" talking about fields that are here in the states that make the middle east look like a puddle. I realize that this is a touchey subject, but we have the resources here at home if we could only develpe them.
Gas is $4.49 here. I have never really driven much, but I really make sure to combine trips now. My dh works 50 miles away, there is no way to cut that one down. We used to attend church 45 miles down the mountain, the church we attended before moving up here, the church my kids have grown up in. We no longer go there. It's really hard on everyone, but what can we do? We were paying $250 a month to go to church. (Sundays and Wednesdays each week). Something that irritates me is the complete lack of public transportation. We live near train tracks, every city in the valley is connected by train tracks....why can't they extend the commuter train up this way and help us out? If dh could take a train to work, we would save $$$$ Apparently the trains in the valley are so full they need more train cars to carry the load. If they would extend those trains, we could take advantage of the savings! We have lots of oil on our own soil, we need to drill at home and work on developing other sources. Ethanol isn't a viable option, in my opinion.
I keep seeing lists of alternative ways of getting around instead of driving your car. That's all fine and good unless you live in the sticks like we do. No public transportation, nearest shopping is a good 15 minutes away or more- again no public transportation till you actually GET into that town. They do not come out here in the country/woods. I've heard walk or ride your bike- again, that would be great if things weren't so far away. I have to put gas in my car and dh's truck today- I won't put much in his truck since he's gone but I need enough to get me back and forth to the dump the next week. I need to fill my car- that will probably be a good 60 dollars or more. I'd thought of just putting 20 in, but shoot, I'm down toa quarter tank and I'd be lucky if that even put me at half a tank. And I saw on the news last night that the republicans knocked down some bill or something to tax major oil companies on their profits or something like that. I'm thinking it's going to cost us a good 2k just to heat the house this winter with the cost of heating oil. Then again it may be cheaper to get portable heaters and park them around the house!
As of last night our gas prices around here were $3.99. I am not driving as much as I did last year. I try to combine errand running when I can. My parents carpool with me when we have to go to the same place. I am only planning on going to our local library once a week because it's 20 minutes away. My husband rides his bike to work on nice days. I'm probably going to start taking his little car around town instead of the van, if he has ridden his bike to work.
To open a can of worms here.... The bill that was blocked would have raised taxes on oil companies here at home. Which would encourage them to stop drilling here and increase our depenance on foreign oil. Also I do not know if you are familiar with the way a business is run, but they do not pay taxes their customers do. For Example: Me and dh have our own small business, and this is really the way we do it. We are required to pay taxes on some supplies we use to make our final product. When we figure the cost of supplies we add in the cost of the taxes we pay, we also add in the income tax that we will pay. That number is then used to determine the cost of goods we are going to sale. Which determines the cost that we charge our customer. We use the total cost of goods plus a percentage. So the people we sale to are paying the taxes for our supplies, and our income tax. So if you tax the snot out of the big oil companies two things will happen. First they will stop producing as much oil in our country, it is cheaper and easier in other countries. Second they will increase the cost of the oil, because it cost them more to produce it. Which making a profit is not illegal in the US the last time I checked. I thought that was the product of " pursuit of happeness" I am affected by the fuel prices just as much as everybody else. I have a really nice diesel pickup that hasn't been driven 100 miles in the last 6 months due to fuel prices. Considering that we live 20 miles from town that is not alot of driving. The state and local taxes on fuel are a huge reason cost are so much. I am ticked at our state (texas) because they are using fuel taxes for things other then roads and then tolling roads after they are build..double taxing us. One last note is that IMOP alot of this is caused by the "enviromentalist" who are trying to save the earth. (I believe Revalations tells us what happens to the Earth:lol: so they are wasting their time.) My truck gets alot better mileage since we took off some of the smog EPA junk on it. I don't see how making a truck get worse mileage where it uses more fuel is better for the enviroment then getting good mileage. Another example is all the rules and regs about building new reinfineries. Then there are all the stupid fuel blends that each state requires and the low sulphur diesel (that is bad for the motors and requires that you put additives in there so your seals dont' dry out and crack the same addititves that they take out :? This subject will ruffle my feathers quicker then anything. I feel like most of the American public listen to the main stream media and don't get the full story or the whole picture. They jump to conclusions that are based on false theorys, and used to push an agenda by the politicans, and enviromentalist. My solution to the problem is to just let the market dictate the price of fuel. At some point it will hit a price that makes people stop driving so much so demand will go down. Then it will stablize, and society will adjust to it. Prices will go up, but in the long run (it might be tough for people in the middle but that is the way a free economy works.. I am one who is being squeezed by the way) Would you like me to jump on my soap box about how big oil is no more evil then big Starbucks, or big banks.. Here is chart that kind of showes it I didn't really look into the article but the chart showes what I wanted to point out. http://everydayecon.wordpress.com/2006/04/26/oil-profit-margins-vs-other-industries/ ok ok I am off for now. Please I like my tomotoes red but not rotten.....:lol:
And I s'pose you like your tomatoes salmonella-free too? Picky, picky! Thanks for the points! I like seeing it from as many angles as possible, so actually, no tomatoes from me!
I feel your pain. We live in the sticks too only there is no public transportation even once you get to town. Small towns dont have busses, we are lucky that we have a cab company. What exactly do all of these enviromentalists think is going to happen to small towns and people who live in the country who have no other way to get around except drive a car? Its not like walking is an option unless I want to hike 15 miles round trip with groceries. My husband works in the city (not the closest small town) which is where we might be moving to. I really dont want to live in the city again. I lived in Phoenix for 6 years once, and I swore off ever living in a city again. Crime, prostitution, druggies, drive by's, it was awful. I dont want to move to another city but it dont look like I have a choice. I feel your pain for heating too. We have an all electric home but they just keep raising our bill. It just went up again a month ago. What can you do but just pay it? Same with food, it has gone up, everything has except our income. They really need to do something about this. Did you know the proposed drilling site for ANWR is 3 square miles? 3 miles in a place the size of North Carolina, I am sure the wildlife will recover. I am with Newt on this. He has a petition online to drill for oil on our soil. I would post a link but I cant.
We are thinking of our heating bill as well... We pre bought our propane last year at $1.69 a gallon. They just set us the info to do it again this year, but to get the best price you have to be pre paid by July 15th...It's up to $2.29 a gallon for the pre buy. I will say our last bill we did the pre buy at $1.69 & the going rate was $2.29 so we saved quite a few bucks in the long haul over the winter!!! Car wise... we don't have public tranny either. We have just been trying to group our errands and make fewer trips. I actually emailed my neighbor I had to run into town to take movies back, she called & said I'm going to town I'll take them back for ya!!! How Awesome was that!!! I watched her child for a little while so she could get some yard work done when they got back!!! YAY!!! Bartering... that my method!!!
Here is So. Cal. propane sells at the national price average for regular gas. So, as of now, my sister is paying $4.17 for a gallon of propane. Also, she can not have a few gallons delivered, she has to top off each time. Things have sure changed from when my parents lived in her house. Back then, you had to get a minimum of gallons but they didn't have to top off.
hehe that was pretty funny. And yes salmonella free would be best thanks for thinking of me I actually just had our propane filled yesterday, we use it only in our stove and oven so we don't go through 100 gallons a year. But it was 2.75 a gallon, the first time we got it filled was about 6 years ago and it was just under a 1.00 a gallon. The driver was way to funny too. He said that we could save money by burning our trees instead of propane, but then our property value would drop. He was going on and on about how those trees would keep us fed, etc. then comparing our treeless waste land to the neighboors forrest (they only have 2 trees) He also talked about how we could use the trees to make brooms and fly around on them if we were witches. I was rolling by the time he left. I almost wish he had to come back sooner he is really quite funny. Ok so that had nothing to do with the topic.... Aggie
Now I know some about the gas/oil fields here. That is where we get our income and enough money or us to live the way we do. Well lately these companies are down sizing. Example is a company he (dh)used to work for had over 500 rigs out and drilling 2 yrs ago, now they are down to 186 rigs out and drilling. It is not the lack of natural gas and oil, it is the laws that the government is hitting them with that they are not able to keep them drilling. My opinion is this is stupid. Back to the subject we are at $3.89 per gal.
My sister is really careful with how much propane she uses but in the winters, she receives snow and this is the only source for heating her house. She was just talking about switching to electricity for everything in her home.
I really am thankful that we use wood for heating. I feel for all of you using propane and natural gas. The vehicle fuel is bad enough. I am not sure what our heating fuel prices are here. I have heard it is high. Everyone is feeling the pinch. Our quandry is the same as everyone. It costs so much to go to work but if we don't work we don't eat. Right now it looks like a loosing battle. We can't move to town. We only have just under 30k left on the house. Even if we did move and get a higher house payment the drive to work is still the same out here. DH is a carpenter and it is a long way to the job sight no matter where it is. The rich people like to build for seclusion around here. Dh's grip is he sees them putting really nice stuff on and in their houses and he can barely afford to get there to build if for them.
With regard to the portable heaters. We have tried that, big mistake! We spent more money with those energy guzzlers than we would have heating the traditional way. You might do a test and plug those bad boys in for a day and check your elec meter before and after to see where you stand with regard to elec usage. That way you don't make an expensive mistake like us.
What really stinks is that people are becoming limited as to what they can or can't use to heat their homes. In some cities, their are no burn days. So even if a family is freezing, they can't use their fireplaces or stoves. They have to switch to electricity, gas, or propane. Some cities do not even allow new homes to have fireplaces or stoves installed anymore because they are "destructive" to the Ozone. If they are installed it has to be those decorative fireplaces that do not burn. (((shaking my head))))
