Gas prices are killing me? (extended)?

Question

Here where I live I pay $3.10 a gallon. It costs me $60 to fill out my tank. I travel 80 miles a day to work (round trip) and my car is my only mode of transportation since where I live there is no public transport. The full tank lasts me around 4 days. I roughly spend $400 a month in gas. I recall a time in 1999 when I paid $1.19 a gallon and it cost me around $20 for a full tank.

I'm really taking a beating on my car expenses and I'm furious about it. What do you guys think?

Answer 1

Try paying $1.19 a litre--that really sucks!! The companies

are gouging us something awful and then brag about their

profits. If it wasn't for us, they wouldn't have jobs. I agree

with you 100%. Lately, ours has been down somewhat--

$.93-.99 a litre. Even that is too much.

Canadian

Answer 2

i know where your coming from...happened to me, i was spending 80.00 on gas to go everywhere i needed to go...but then i decided to get a older car (it was new to me) i started talking to coworkers on cars they new that were old and got good gas mileage...one of my friends told me that her friend was selling her car...so i decided to call her...BEST decision i made...my car now gets 50 miles to the gallon...and it is a 92 but i really love it!

so i guess what im getting at is maybe you should think about getting a new car...and in the mean time ask a coworker if you can car pool to work

good luck!!!

Answer 3

Start drifting behind trucks LOL.

Answer 4

Yeah dude you need to do something about that. a car with better gas mileage would be a good idea, even if you spend a extra 200 a month on a car that gets twice as good of fuel economy as what your driving now youll be breaking even. So get someting that burns less fuel even if you gotta sell whatever your driving now... Or if its warm all year where you live you can always buy a bike

Answer 5

That sounds similar to my situation. I used to have a Mustang GT and I also drive 80 miles a day.  I sold that Mustang for a Honda fit. Now I get 35mpg and I cut my gasoline bill in half. The car also costs less to insure. The musang was about 2500 dollars a year, the Honda is about 1100.  Then there is maintenance costs.... in short.. buying the new car actually saved me money in the long run. Think about it!

Answer 6

Gas prices are going to continue to go up.

I recognize that each choice is unpleasant ... you need to evaluate each one, to see which is least distasteful, or if some combination practical.

Your choices include:

* Trade in your current transportation for something that gets better gas mileage

* A motorcycle gets much better gas mileage than any auto ... is that a practical alternative for you?

* See if you can do part of your commute via bicycle (it might not be safe) or maybe public transportation goes PART of the way ... so you drive from home to a parking place, take publc transportation, get your bicycle out of some storage shed, and ride that to where you work.

* Try to organize a car pool with other people who live / work near you

* Consult with your employer about this ... what do THEY think about the possibility of you getting a second job because you need more income to buffer against your gas price increases ... maybe they have more than one office you can work out of, where another one is closer to where you live

* Look for another job where the commute is not so far

* Look for another place to live where closer to work

* Look into possibility of renting some place to sleep near where you work, where the cost would be less than the gas pricing ... plus there are other wear & tear expenses on the car

80 miles round trip vs. work is a goodly distance ... to the degree that you can dramatically lower that, you will also get some time added to each day that is available for other things.

Answer 7

I recall a time in 1975 when I paid 50 cents a gallon. I also recall a time in 1997 when my house cost $150,000. I also recall a time in 1980 when I was making six bucks an hour.  Son, you are not alone. Everyone is paying three bucks a gallon. Everyone is paying 300-500 grand for a house. Everyone is making at least 20 bucks an hour. But not everyone is deciding to buy a car that gets 12 miles per gallon for commuting 80 miles a day. They also don't all live 40 miles from work. You need to get out of that car and into a car that gets at least double that mileage. Can you move nearer your job or get one closer to home? You could easily cut your fuel expense in half.

Answer 8

This was originally sent by a retired Coc Cola executive. It came from one of his

engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It ' s worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next

summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take

some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that

was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because

they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was

more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.

Please read on and join wi th us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline

priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular

unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditined

us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to

take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the

marketplace..... not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we

consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas

come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And,

we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we

can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act

together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest

companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any

gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the

other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas

buyers. It's really imple to do! Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading

and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions o f people.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30

x 10 =3D 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3D

3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we

will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited

and pass this on to ten friend s each, then 30 million people will have been

contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE

>>>>HUNDRED MILLION >>>>PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If you don't

understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10

people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am, so trust

me on this one.)

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more peole

within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted

within the next 8 days!!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I

had that much potential, di d you?

Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass

this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR

PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.

THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Answer 9

You are correct. The gas prices have gone up over 100% and my wages have gone down! Now Jenny G. is raising Michigan's income tax to make us all mad, and, frankly, I don't know if I can afford to keep working and living here in Michigan.

BUT...!!! I do have an ace up my sleeve. I ride a Honda Reflex scooter back and forth to work. My commute is likewise 80 miles, and I don't think I would make it without the Reflex's 70mpg. In the winter I switch between the noisy work van and my gas guzzling Escort(38mpg).

I think we need people in public office who are paid what we are paid. Make them have to live paycheck to paycheck see how they like it. Make those lazy senators and congressmen punch in in the morning, half an hour lunch break if your lucky, and punch out at the end of day, and no more blowing off work for the special interest groups who are keeping the gas prices artificially high to line their pockets with the hard earned money of the working man.

Umm sorry, but you open that vent, and thanks. I feel better. I'm still broke, but I feel better.

Drive Safe

Answer 10

Well, I feel you, but most of America is in the same boat.  You may want to look into getting a more fuel-efficient car, or setting up a carpool or vanpool.  And, as a final measure, perhaps moving closer to your work (if your family is OK with it).  80 miles a day is a lot of driving, even if gas were cheap.  I know it's tough, but you need to take action to reduce your driving.  Sitting on the computer and complaining isn't going to get you anywhere.

Answer 11

I am guessing you live in SoCal. I paid $2.999/ gal for regular in West Covina, CA last night.

Life's a *****!