The Price of Gas

I'll be honest, once it hit $3.15 a gallon my husband and I stopped going on weekend road trips that we use to do. Now that I filled up today on $3.41 I think it's totally out of control. I notice that I complain when I have to take my vehicle any where besides work and I notice that I shop on my way home to save a little on making a special trip out later. We have basically become homebodies or we stay "close to home" when we do go do things. Also, where my grocery cart use to be filled with a lot of extra things, it's now filled with easy, cheap meal choices and standards only.

"It's not to late to become who you've always wanted to be..."

I think it is a much more complicated issue than most of us ever realized. It all ties in with overseas oil policies, energy policy, efficiency, state and federal tax policies, and politics of course. When you hear Clinton or McCain say they want to drop the Federal tax on gas for the summer, it might sound good, but really that only saves the average person about $30, while driving the national debt up by millions more. Then independent oil companies make up the difference by driving up pump prices, so we pay it anyway. At my house we are trying to cut back wherever we can, driving less, but it's sounding like there isn't any long term relief coming soon. We'll probably be trading in the gas-hog SUV for something more energy efficient.

Susan & Neil Hampton have three spectacular children, Alexander, Isabel and David, plus one amazing teenager, Eric. Susan does community outreach for arizonamoms.com.
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” - Margaret Atwood

We're more aware of the excess driving that we do. We've cut back quite a bit as well. The frequent trips to the grocery store have stopped. I go shopping once a week to avoid having to go there because I "forgot" something. When we go to the kids' sports, we take one car only, even if one of us has things to do afterwards. It's really sad because we cancelled our annual trip to Cali over Memorial Weekend because the price of gas. :(

I know gas prices have changed our family outings a bit too.

There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one!

There are certain driving patterns I can't change because of work and other commitments, but I'm so glad I was able to negotiate working from home twice a week. It saves me about 100 miles wear and tear on my car and 4 gallons of gas per week. I also try to plan trips to stores so I don't waste gas.

That said, I probably could try to use public transportation more, but the nearest bus route leaves for downtown before I can drop my kids off at school, and I don't want to pay $100 or so a week just so I can ride a bus. I've tried carpooling before, and it was difficult. But if gas hits $4, I might try again.

I do avoid idling during rush hour by starting my work day at home and then hitting the road late. I feel better about my selfish driving habits and the envirnoment that way.

Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.

Not only are we paying more for gas but we are also paying more for products because the companies that make and deliver them are paying higher gas prices also. It cost me $70 to fill my tank on the way to work. I am really glad I only work 5 miles away

I haven't changed anything yet.....I am not sure what my magic number will be, but I don't really have a choice but to drive myself to work and my son to school....there is no way public transportation would work for us.....I do get to telecommute a few days a week and that helps a bit.
We are toying with the idea of trading in my husbands 4runner for a honda civic hybrid, but I doubt we will. My car is kind of small so we need one larger vehicle for when we have out of town visitors, need to move stuff, etc.

We used to go to stores after work about 3 times a week but now we ususally only go on Saturdays.

jesshod is an arizonamoms.com discussion leader living in Surprise.

We are trying to consolidate our out of town trips so we cut down on the amount of gas we have to buy. We haven't had to cancel anything yet. It is really a shock to fill up my tank and see $71 on the pump!