Trickle down: How has gas prices impacted you and your area?

[radfringe]

It's costing all of more just to commute to work, which means less money in our pockets to spend on other things.

The high costs also trickle down into other things, like groceries, as the cost of transporting goods rises and this is passed along to us.

And then there's the recreational/entertainment/vacation businesses which are/will be hit.

My partner and I use to take a weekend drive about once a month, sometimes it was just a day trip, other times it would be a long weekend. We pretty much stopped doing that about 5 years ago, cut back to maybe a long weekend once or twice between spring and fall or just one week long vacation.

This year there will be no week-long vacation, we are going to Shenandoah National Park in June for a 3-day trip but that's it for our travel plans.

What all this means is we won't be stopping at a restaurant for a meal or stopping at a store to grab a soda, or visiting any recreational/entertainment places. We've also cut back on going to the movies, concerts etc. This also means not stopping anywhere for a meal or to pick up a snack.

Extra money we may have gets tossed into a separate place to buy cord wood for heating during the winter and as an emergency buffer for heating oil.

My partner does the grocery shopping on Friday nights on her way home from work, and I do the other "in-town" errands (banking etc) on my way from work so there's no extra trips on the weekend.

how has it impacted your life? have you made any changes?

[shaniqua6392]

1. Gas here in Metro Detroit area is $3.50 to $3.70!

Our grocery bill has increased significantly over the past six months. Everything is just so much more expensive it is killing us. We stay home a lot more than we did before. On the up side...our house has never been cleaner! It is the only thing we can do that does not cost us money. LOL!!

[KillCapitalism]

2. Gas is "cheap" here @ $3.19/gal. in St. Louis

It has affected me quite a bit, the only places I drive is to and from work and the grocery store.

[Saturday]

3. We returned from a quick getaway yesterday.

The destination was 2 hours from our home. I hear what you are saying but the roads were packed going both ways and it seems no one is driving less. Traffic everywhere. I even noted to DH that most cars only had 1 person in them. My car gas tank used to take $20 to fill, last time it was $41. I have always tried to combine trips so I do much the same as I've always done.

[salin]

4. prices jumped 20 cents a gallon yesterday - 3.59

no extra driving - only shop when already in route and the store is on the way. Drive more "relaxed" - in a Prius meaning bump up the fuel efficiency of the car to be able to go more miles for each gallon.

[Saphire]

5. I have started to car pool to work and back. I cut my gas by half.