Gas prices have officially hit $3 a gallon in New York and they don't look to be stopping there. According to yesterday's report, the US national average is now at $3.004 thanks to a 1.5 cent overnight hike (up 25 cents since three weeks ago). Here in California I've been watching our prices head up over $3 for some time - just the other day we paid $3.20 a gallon, and that was on a military post where gas is supposedly less! Ugh.
With the possibility of gas prices being at $3.50 or even $4 by next summer, saving gas should be on a lot of folks' minds, especially those who have to commute more than a few minutes to work each day. If you're one of those folks, tighten your purse strings and prepare your wallets, because during the holidays lots of gas stations raise their rates anyway. Try on a few of these tips and maybe you can stretch things out even further:
- Ask around the office to see who lives near you and is open to carpooling. If there is a good-sized group, see if someone has a minivan or SUV that will haul you all. If there are only a few of you, a single car (maybe even a hybrid?) will hold everyone. Even two people commuting together and sharing gas costs will take some of the pain out of the gas prices.
- If you're in a metropolitan area, consider selling your car and using public transportation instead. You'll save on maintenance, car payments, insurance, and gas - that's plenty of room to save up to rent a car for trips out of town.
- If you live close enough to work, try walking or riding a bike if the weather allows. Those of you who get snow have probably found you get to work faster on foot anyway - who wants to deal with crazy drivers and patches of black ice?
- Live too far to walk? Ask your supervisor about telecommuting. Even if you can only stay home half of the week, that's still a lot less gas you'll have to pay for. Plus you can work in your jammies - shhhh, I won't tell.
My sister is finally starting to carpool to her work. Her car breaking down finally broke down her resistance to the idea and she now realizes that she will be saving at least $80/month on gas, plus less wear and tear on her car.
I work at home, so no carpools for me! The other ideas don't work for my husband; he has to have a car available as a part of his job. But we do live about 6 miles from his work, so not so bad a commute.
We've gotten pretty good at driving less. We have just the one car, so I have to be very efficient about running errands.
Posted by: Stephanie | November 7, 2007 4:04 PM | Permalink to Comment