Fight back against gas prices!
Well, the oil companies are increasing oil prices again…
What are you doing to frugally fight higher gas prices?
Should we just say “There is nothing we can do” , and just be an innocent victim to the onslaught of the oil companies on our wallets and purses?
Last night while driving home, I noticed that my local gas station’s price per gallon has risen to $2.999 (which is effectively $3.00)! Ouch!
I talked about one option in my article called: Carpooling to Save Money and Reduce Gas Prices, and this is a great way to for the consumers to lower gas prices to a great extend, at least if we all do so in mass. One problem may exist though… China! China is still growing like wildfire compared to the growth rate of the developed countries. It’s not that they want oil prices to rise too, it’s just that their economy needs that resource to support their growth rate.
Another great option to consider is Telecommuting! In case you lived in a cave for the past 10 or so years, telecommuting is where you stay at home and connect to work (or do work) by connecting to work via a computer and internet connection (called a VPN – Virtual Private Network) to your place of employment.
Now granted not everybody can take advantage of the telecommuting option because of the type of work they perform, but you can talk to your boss if there isn’t a policy that your employer is using already! Perhaps you can start a pilot program, working 1 day a week as a test to see if it work for you and your company. In fact, the place that I work at takes an hybrid approach, where we work onsite a few days and have the option to work offsite for a few day. It’s a great mix! Even better would be to walk or ride a bike if possible to work and at anytime really…
My final suggestion would be to be aware of the expense of too many car trip taken during the day/week! Running out 20 miles to this store and then later that store during a normal day can really adds up! Know the mileage your car can achieve and calculate how much those trips cost (including the drive back home). For instance, I know that it cost me $15 to drive to my parents house and back (they are almost an hour away from my house)!
What I do is consolidate my non work trips into 1 per week (when possible, which is not always the case with kid sports and activities)! What this means is during one drive, I do multiple things within that drive. So instead of driving out for milk, then driving out to pick up driveway salt (snow, yuck)… I’ll just make 1 trip instead of 2!
I know that we all think of carpooling when we go to work, but perhaps it’s not a bad idea for a neighborhood carpool too? Maybe a stay-at-home mom could do a similar action with other neighboring SAHMs? There could even be other beneficial gains in doing such a carpooling activity such as social, safety and backup coverage in driving kids to sports!
Can you think of any other ways to combat the rising prices of gas?
–MR
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Here’s another idea, pick up an oil stock that pays a dividend, it will change the way you look at gas prices.
Paying 3.00 a gallon? you will have a big smile knowing your company is making more profits which results in higher capital gains and potentially increased dividends over the years which might end up covering your gas monthly usage.
Hehe, you are right! I use to own BP for a year up until they had their spill. It did change my perspective about the oil prices…
Consider public transport to get to work if it is an option. It is unbelievable how relaxing that time can be!
When making a vehicle purchase, keep mileage into account. I have a friend who bought a pick up. He lives in the city and his justification was to pick up furniture ‘and stuff’ from IKEA. Seriously, how many times does one go to IKEA? How many flat screen TVs do you pick up?
I think I would like to take public transportation if I had it in my area. It’s cheaper, that’s for sure!
I use to wish I had a truck, but not I’m just as content borrowing my dad or father-in-laws…
I do telecommute, every single day, which is the best!
I can’t really reduce my driving much, and a bike is out of the question this time of year. So I just drive and accept what I have to pay. (I did like Beating the Index’s thought up above.)
I paid 3.09 where I live last night.
Telecommuting every day, very nice!
I don’t know why you don’t want to ride your bike to around! I know Little House rides her bike to work often!!!
You just don’t like bikes!!!
$3.09, ouch… I’m not a crying man, but that brings a tear to my eye!!!
Today I’m telecommuting! Or rather, today I’m spread out on the living room floor grading a million and a half final exams. Yesterday gas was almost $3/gallon. I’m glad my little Accent doesn’t drink much, and dh has a hybrid.
Yeah, good call on nice gas efficient models!!!
Grading exams would totally drain me, and would take me forever! I don’t envy the headache you must occasionally get…
It’s over $3 here.
I drastically reduced my weekend leisure drives once I was paying for my own gas and it went above $3. A lot of my friends and family are 2-3 hours away so it got to the point where I was like, is it worth $50 to see them this weekend?
Me too! my sister is 2 hours away, and I would like to see her more, but that’s a lot of money! Same with my parents…
Actually I have a few friends that are a distance away, but I don’t see them because of the distance and cost of gas…
I drive to work half the time and take public transport the other half. It’s been working pretty well. We only share one car and that’s fine with us.
I’ll try to bike more next summer.
that sounds like a great solution! If I ever work in a big city, I think I will try to follow suite!
I’m in a satellite city, but to get anywhere it take a 20 or so minute drive… I’m bummin…
I take public transportation sometimes. It does save money. I probably should use it more. It takes longer to get to work but I still like it. Perfect time to read. 🙂
Sounds like the ultimate carpooling solution! I wonder how many other people are also on the bus too?
These companies are taking us hostage again whenever there is a holiday season since they know this is the time when more people are traveling.
I’ve seen gas prices here jumped from $3.09 to $3.25 in one day! I live close to work and my drive time is only 5 minutes. Once in a while I would just walk.
Families need to plan their errands so that they complete it in just one trip. This way, they can save a lot of gas money.
Wow 5 minutes away from work would be great!
I agree, I’ve seen many occasions where an individual just drive out to pick up one item, only to come back and drive out again because they forgot something else…
These are some cool suggestions. Unfortunately, I don’t think any of them would be as rewarding for me as somehow getting a discount on the gas. For example, I telecommute, plan my trips, and used to carpool with my wife (when feasible). However, they didn’t bring me the satisfaction as when I found I could get 30c/ gallon cheaper at XYZ gas station.
Yeah, I wish the prices would come down! I wonder how many people really realize how expensive it is to travel when gas is over $3.00 per gallon…
Or, if you’re moving anyway, move to a place where you can walk/bike/bus to work. I did this because my car is a POS and I can’t trust it (though I still use it on the weekends). It’s saved a lot of money so far; almost enough to pay my rent!
Wow, that’s got to be pretty nice!