As I just covered in The Question of the Week, gas prices are high and the forecast calls for nothing but rising rates. For the average family who is trying to make ends meet, and doesn’t have a compensatory raise in income to make up for the raise in outgo, this situation can be extremely tough.
So if you, or your spouse, has been commuting to work five days a week, has any moves been made by you to save money on the gas bill? Some ideas that I’ve seen bandied about include:
~Work four 10 hour days instead of five 8’s. You are still working the same amount of time (40 hours) but commuting one less day a week.
~Carpool with coworkers to work, to help share the cost of gas.
~Work from home at least once a week, perhaps even taking the job home with you and telecommuting entirely from home.
~Take public transportation (subway/bus). This has never really been a choice for me, because you have to live in larger cities for this service to be offered, and my town simply isn’t big enough. There are a lot of towns where it is, however.
~Bike or walk to work if it’s close enough. My husband and I used to do this during the summer, because both of our jobs were within a mile of our home. My husband decided he liked scooters better than bikes, so he ditched the bike and started scooting to work on his cheap, made-for-a-seven-year-old scooter. He makes for a funny sight, but he likes his scooter, so who am I to point and laugh and in general make fun of him? Oh yeah, his wife – I can get away with doing that. 😛
~Buy a more energy efficient car, which doesn’t necessarily mean an electric car or a hybrid, but simply a Toyota Camry versus a Ford Explorer, or worse, Ford Excursion. I’ve always wanted a hybrid, but I’m pretty sure that’ll have to wait a while.
~Drive slower. My father works for a car dealership, and he told me that if you drive above 65 mph, your mileage starts to drop pretty rapidly. I tend to go more around 80 mph, and apparently that’s A Bad Idea (both for the wasted gas and the high cost associated with those lovely tickets given out by the nice police officers.) I still drive 80 mph irregardless, but I’m going for the whole “do as I say, not as I do” philosophy here.
So those are my gas-saving ideas – how has your family dealt with this? Have you tried to combine errands? Double up with other families? Cut back on commute time? Whatever it is, I want to hear about it! Leave your comments below.