I got paid Friday, so it was time to bite the bullet and pay for a fill up of my gas tank.
Ever since the prices started spiraling up over the $3 a gallon mark my strategy to hold the costs down is to completely fill my tank up and not allow my car to get below 3/4 of a tank. That way I can put $5 to $10 in it and still keep my tank full while holding down my gas costs. I live only 15 minutes away from my job in downtown Louisville, so I don't have a long gas-guzzling drive from the 'burbs. The three consecutive 13 hour shifts I work allow me to cut my commuting days in the car down from five to three.
But since my cash was tight after the trip to Western Massachusetts last week, I basically had to drive on that tank for my work week. The last time I had to buy a full fill up I paid $3.35 a gallon for it. When I filled up Saturday it cost me $4.15 a gallon to fill up my Volvo's gas tank.
So yeah, I was pissed. But you gotta have it, so I pumped the gas and griped.
What I have done to cut down my gas consumption is make fewer trips. Fortunately the neighborhood I live in has a lot of things in walking distance of the house. Anything that's not in walking distance, I try to bundle the errands into one trip and do it in a logical, systematic fashion.
For example, I have a mall a few miles down the road from me. I pass my bank, cheaper gas, several strip shopping centers, a CVS and a Walgreen's and a few fast food places along the way. So if I to go to the bank, buy gas and grab something from Walgreen's I do it in one trip and not multiple ones. If I have time on my hands I'll ride a TARC bus since I do have one route that passes in front of my house and another one two blocks up the street that goes to Mall St. Matthews, Oxmoor Center and down Shelbyville Rd.I'm hanging on for a while to my 1991 Volvo since I get great gas mileage out of it, but I really feel sorry for the folks that own SUV's. They are driving across the border to Indiana and the counties surrounding Louisville/Jefferson County to buy gas. Louisville/Jeff County has to sell reformulated gas due to the ozone problem we have here, but Shelby, Oldham, and Bullitt counties aren't under those restrictions, so the gas is cheaper there and across the river. I find it ironic though that Houston, which is under the same EPA restrictions, has cheaper gas prices than Louisville.
And I've already double checked my voter's registration card and voted in the primary election to make certain I can cast my ballot on November 4 for a straight Democratic ticket.
alt energy will be our only solution
ReplyDeletehttp://www.queersunited.blogspot.com
My car holds 10 1/2 gallons of gas. With the needle a little under a quarter tank, it cost me $46.50, which means it'll be over FIFTY bucks to fill 'er up! That's hideous. Chicago has the highest in the nation. Why are we so lucky? Geesh.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the hints, Monica. More walking, less trips.
Jimmy Carter looks a lot smarter now doesn't he?
ReplyDeleteHe was warning that we need to be energy independent back in the 70's, and conservatives laughed at him.
The crude oil market is being jobbed, Enron-style. It's painfully obvious. Even OPEC is mad about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing at the fools who bought new SUVs since 2000, when it became obvious that $10/barrel oil was history. You're getting what you deserve.
Some comedian said it best recently (paraphrasing and doing it wrong, probably):
ReplyDeleteYou put an oil men in the two top positions in the US and suddenly oil goes 3-4 times higher in price and profit.
I'm not saying there's a connection, but if we elected a pair of lumberjacks and the price of wood quadrupled, we'd be asking more questions.
Seriously, though, it's pretty clear that the high price of oil is based on little more than market speculation that is feeding on itself. For the sake of normal folks, the government really should step in and take measures.. because when that oil bubble bursts it's going to cost a ton of people their jobs in the oil industry... and until it does, it's going to put EVERYONE ELSE'S jobs at risk.
That's what the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is for. Notice it isn't being tapped.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Monica I love your site!!
ReplyDeleteLike you I have made changes in my habits to deal with this new fact of life. Fortunately I heard several years ago about this coming (sooner or later)and began to rearrange my life to deal with high energy costs.
I prepped by buying a small used motorcycle (with a rack system for errands) and moving to a small diesel wagon car. So from my feet, to my bicycle, motorcycle, and car I'll be mobile. I still have to organize my trips but I can manage.
The best is that all of this has allowed me to realize a better quality of life and perspective on things by stepping and thinking outside the box.