$ gas prices = WOW!

[KnottedYet]

The amusing thing to me is that the US gets the vast majority of its imported gasoline from Canada.

Yet the difficulty in Libya has raised our gas prices to $4/gal in my neighborhood.

I call "B.S." on the oil companies. But like any addict, I have nowhere else to turn but my dealer... so he can raise prices all he wants for whatever reason he wants. I'll pay, man, just gimme my fix!!!!!

Biodiesel and bikes are my options if I want to get out of their profiteering clutches.

[Miranda]

The amusing thing to me is that the US gets the vast majority of its imported gasoline from Canada.

Yet the difficulty in Libya has raised our gas prices to $4/gal in my neighborhood.

I call "B.S." on the oil companies. But like any addict, I have nowhere else to turn but my dealer... so he can raise prices all he wants for whatever reason he wants. I'll pay, man, just gimme my fix!!!!!

Biodiesel and bikes are my options if I want to get out of their profiteering clutches.

Omg, IKR?! Ugh... what to do. The first sign of trouble, boom, next thing ya know that price on the gas station sign changes.

We bought our suv when gas was very low. It gave us more towing capacity for our camper. Also, we just paid the suv off. So nice to be a car payment free household atm.

I have changed my traveling habits since the prices have gone up. I limit, combine, or simply just don't go at all, where I used to. Too much money.

[hebe]

Sympathy from here. We're paying the British equivalent of over $10/gallon here - our gallons are slightly bigger than yours but you get the picture. My bikes have gone from being purely for recreation to doing a large share of nursery transport and errands as most of my journeys are less than 5miles long round trip. I thought that the routes were too busy to cycle initially but have found some better ones.

So I'm voting with my wallet and using less fuel. Perhaps if their revenue drops the more they increase prices then they'll get the message. Our government made a big song and dance about decreasing fuel prices by shifting more of the tax burden to the oil companies when oil prices are high, but all this has done is mightily annoy the oil companies. It's the oil companies who set the prices at the pump anyway, and they are simply refusing to pass on any reduction in duty set by the government. Bah.

[badger]

The amusing thing to me is that the US gets the vast majority of its imported gasoline from Canada.

Yet the difficulty in Libya has raised our gas prices to $4/gal in my neighborhood.

I call "B.S." on the oil companies. But like any addict, I have nowhere else to turn but my dealer... so he can raise prices all he wants for whatever reason he wants. I'll pay, man, just gimme my fix!!!!!

Biodiesel and bikes are my options if I want to get out of their profiteering clutches.

Well, I've often wondered why we have to pay so much (currently $1.37/L, which is approx. $5.48/gal) when we have our own oil. From what I hear, our oil isn't as refined as the ones in Libya, etc. But that could just be more ka-ka we're fed to believe something.

[jobob]

Well, I've often wondered why we have to pay so much (currently $1.37/L, which is approx. $5.48/gal) when we have our own oil. From what I hear, our oil isn't as refined as the ones in Libya, etc. But that could just be more ka-ka we're fed to believe something.

I didn't realize prices were that much higher in Canada than the US. But if you take into account the fact that US gas is heavily subsidized, then I suppose it does make sense. In the US, we pony up the difference on April 15.

[Tri Girl]

Muirenn- that's CRAZY! So silly to not let you come on base by foot or two wheels. If they're worried about security- I'm thinking someone on foot or on a bike is a whole lot more transparent than someone in a car with a trunk to hide things in. How dumb!

Two years ago I took a job (with a pretty good pay cut) that is 2 miles from my house (3 by bike). It was worth it to me to not have to be in my car for 1.5 hours a day and drive 60 miles just for work daily. I made the sacrifice because I was sick of being in my car that much. We cut back things like cable, excess spending, etc and made it work. We also spend less money on filling the car up- so the pay cut didn't hurt quite as bad.
Not everyone can do that, and that's OK. I'm glad that we could make it work. I'm MUCH less stressed and much happier being able to ride to work.

Now I do almost everything by bike. I fill the car up about every 3 weeks. My DH has his choice of two cars now (they are both paid off and are 11+ years old). I hope to eventually get rid of one of them, but he's not too keen on that idea. I'm working *really* hard to get him to see it would be OK to be a one-car couple, even though we have no public transportation. I mean- the furthest I'm going to get "stuck" from home would be a max of 10 miles- and I'm in good enough shape that if I had to walk that far- I could do so easily.

[soprano]

I was a senior in college in 2001. The price of gasoline in our area more than doubled that year, and my college-student budget had no room for expansion. These days, my husband and I have a nice household income, so the current gas price increases don't hurt nearly as much.

Coming into financial independence just as gas prices were starting to take off means that I have always made housing/work decisions with gasoline in mind. We bought a house that is well-served by public transit, and we share one car without hardship (and that car gets 45 MPG). Haven't really noticed any effect of the current gasoline prices on our budget. I feel sorry for those who are hurting financially because of the price of gas.

I hope to eventually get rid of one of them, but he's not too keen on that idea. I'm working *really* hard to get him to see it would be OK to be a one-car couple, even though we have no public transportation.

To demonstrate to my husband that we could ditch one car, I parked it for a month and got around by other means. I also pointed out to him that we live near a number of car rental counters (we also have carshare available) and that for the 13 days I had needed to drive so far that year, I had spent ~$2000 in car maintenance - WAY more than the cost to rent! Laying out some hard numbers really helped convince him.

[Miranda]

Great discussion, peeps. Thanks for chiming in.

DH has a 45min drive to his office. Our other vehicles are older and paid off as well. I know he is wanting to get another new one. But, gheez mileage and gas, I'm not excited about it. Trying to hold that one off lol.

Thanks for the input on the commuting. Well, my new xc bike is the one I considering riding. It still has xc type tires on it atm. I've looked at the busy road trying to figure out if I could off road it. But, some of it is yards of homeowners. That's destine to just piss off chasing dogs more.

Hmm, I'm gonna hafta look and see if I could ride an epic route of some sort. I've looked so many times. The other good thing for me is that I'm going to teach class. So, being sweaty is ok. I worry if I got a flat I would miss class. Not good. But, hopefully that's a remote statistic.

Our area is so bike unfriendly. If I ever moved, I'd def be looking for a bike friendly town.

[emily_in_nc]

We're fortunate now to live in a walkable, bikeable community that has many amenities nice and close, and we're close to public transportation as well. So, since moving here last June, my DH sold his truck, and we became a one-car household. I already worked from home once a week, and recently started taking the bus to work twice a week as well. I still drive in (11 miles each way) a couple of times a week so I can leave earlier and get in a bike ride, but our gas purchasing has gone WAY down.

My DH is retired so is able to bike, walk, or take the bus everywhere.

On weekends and my work from home day, our goal is always not to drive at all. We can't always do this if we have a party to go to in the next town or some such, but very often we achieve our goal by cycling, walking, and taking the bus wherever we need to go. We also get a lot of free entertainment hanging out with other people in our apt. complex, taking our dog outside to play with their dogs, and just taking walks around the neighborhood.

I only have to fill up the car about 1 to 1.5 times a month. Used to be 4-5x a month when we lived way out in a rural area.

So, higher gas prices aren't affecting us at all. In fact, in some ways it's a good thing if it gets more people riding, walking, and taking public transportation.