Is anyone driving less because of the cost of gas?

[Anne/Ankara]

I can't believe how much I've spent in gas recently-- now it costs about $50 to fill the minivan tank, and that lasts less than one week for us. Now I am trying to conserve on the driving I do, but still I feel the need to get to the activities we do (math club, art school, music lessons, etc). Anyone else wondering what they should do differently about driving?

[threetreasurs]

More carpooling - more sitting and waiting rather than driving home during a lesson . . .

[Andie]

We're not, really. We've become pretty efficient drivers, I guess; I try to combine trips, etc., but truth be told, that change was more motivated by limited time and *human* energy, since adding the last two kids, than money or some heroic effort for Al Gore. ;) We long ago got out of the habit of driving just to "go for a drive", and I find a tank of gas, even in our 12 passenger, lasts us about 2 weeks this time of year.

[RoughCollie]

It costs around $90 to fill my SUV with 30 gallons of gas. I don't drive less because everywhere I go is max 4 miles away and it is all necessary driving. But I have decided not to take long car trips to see my family (1200 miles away).

RC

[PamInMN]

We drive a lot less..... but we are pretty far down the financial status ladder (particularly with hubby being laid off on Friday.... guess we won't be going anywhere for awhile. :p ).

[angela in ohio]

We've become pretty efficient drivers, I guess; I try to combine trips, etc., but truth be told, that change was more motivated by limited time and *human* energy... than money...

This is pretty much the situation here, too. I don't think much about the price, becasue anywhere I go, I *have* to go. I gave up any unnecessary driving because of the time involved, not the money.

[Julie in PA]

I am thinking through the necessity of each errand and trying conserve as much as possible. Most places I go are within a few miles, but I am trying to make each tank of gas last a week and a half at about 50$ a fill up.

[Quiver0f10]

I try to do most of my errands in 1 trip too, not just for gas though, but to save time. I am getting about 1.5 weeks per tank ( @$90 a fill up)

[Plaid Dad]

Same here - we combine errands as much as possible. Still, I have to drive significant distances for work (tutoring) and church, and we live about 10 miles from the nearest "shopping town." While we can get groceries in our village, the prices are so high that it's actually more cost-effective to drive the 10 miles. :(

[maadrose]

I have become the Queen of gas conservation in our home!!! I go absolutely NOWHERE (when it includes driving) unless absolutely necessary...last summer the ONLY time I drove my van was when we went to church on Sundays and on Wednesday nites...I saved all of my grocery shopping for 1 day which occurred only once every two weeks (a small, yet expensive, convenience store is within walking distance)...yes, we actually WALKED where we needed to go...we are centrally located in our small city...the library, small strip mall, and a grocery store and gas station, and playground are all within walking distance...it is healthier for us and the ozone! That was in the summer and I had NO income to fill the tank with gas---relatives even had to come visit us if they wanted to see us...

Now that it is winter, we are forced to do a bit more driving, but I am working now and I fill up my gas tank twice per month...a $60 fill-up lasts about 2 weeks...We still limit our driving: we drive to church--Sunday and Wednesday, music lessons, and a once a week library trip, occasional Dr. and Dentist appointments, and of course I drive to work (1 or 2 days per week)...so anything else that we do has to fit into one of those days and we combine errands like crazy! Plus if we are really desperate there is always public transportation which for me and the kids would only be $1.00 for a round trip ticket to where we need to go in the city...most days it is free though.

[AmyinPA]

Yes, but I generally drive less in the winter anyway. Right now I'm stretching a tank of gas to about one fill up per every two weeks. Fortunately we live only about 3 miles from our church where we go almost every day for one activity or another. I've also been trying to carpool more which helps alot.

[CookieMonster]

Yes. But, it's really quite easy for me to drive less. I'm sure that if I had tons of outside committments for my kids, I would find it harder.

I only attend my Moms Bible study group once a month, instead of twice.

I make it a point to travel to the store at planned times, with a list. Which is something I used to do when I lived in the country. Since living in suburbia, I've tended to just "pop over to the store too much".

[Lady Katherine]

I sure would like to use less gasoline, but I already don't go anywhere I don't HAVE to go. I do try to combine errands whenever possible.

[Andie]

we live about 10 miles from the nearest "shopping town." While we can get groceries in our village... :(

Grumble, mutter...

We live within walking distance of church, the courthouse, and what used to be town. We can no longer get groceries here, though. That's 6 miles away in StripMallVille. *sigh*

[Just Me]

We are down to only one car right now, so I am not driving much at all! :( But, even when we replace the old car I only drive to church (which is also where I work) about 3 miles away, and like everyone else, try to limit my errand days.

[KristineIN]

Thankfully for us, Meijer is 1.2 miles, church is about 4 miles and the farthest place that I "normally" drive is the library about 5 miles. Now this is driving through town though, so we don't get as good of gas mileage and our library only holds requested material for 5 days, and I have to try my best to get the material in that time frame (not always easy!)

But yes, all in all, we are trying to combine trips and drive less.

Kristine

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

I combine trips as much as possible. When we go to church or co-op I make necessary stops along the way. I go out once a week for groceries to the nearby Kroger. We don't live close enough to anything to walk though.

[Susie in CA]

We do drive a lot less these days. However, this doesn't have anything to do with gas prices. It is simply because we do more work at home now that the kids are getting into Upper Elementary Years.

Susie

[Krista in LA]

Unfortunately, we have some activity to go to everyday. Most of our activities are pretty close and near other places where I would have to run errands. We do carpool for dance, but it only consists of one of us taking and the other bringing home so it doesn't save gas, just time. I do combine trips as much as possible and I have started driving our car rather than the minivan since it gets better gas mileage. I'm just so glad that my dh works from home most of the time and when he doesn't have to go somewhere, his company pays for the miles to get him to the airport. With his old job, he had to drive 50 miles a day.

[Tammy in Germany]

Absolutely...I only go to post once a week if I can help it. We have cut down on our traveling a little and started to use the trains here more.

[LaMere Academy]

Yep. And when we do go out I run all my errands in order of location so I waste less gas. It's getting so ridiculous!!
It's pretty sad when you see $2.99 a gallon and you get excited because it's so "cheap" :rolleyes:

[JennifersLost]

We have one car now, and I am very conscious of the price of gas. During the winter I drive the kids around, but as soon as it gets nice everyone has to ride bikes or walk. I hate ski season because of the amount of gas it eats up.

And the thing is, everywhere we go is so close. Except for skiing (which is a 40 minute trip each way) I rarely go more than 6 miles from home. But I have kids in a ton of activities, so I make a lot of trips and put $50 of gas into the car a week, at least.

[genie]

We don't drive much, but we are heating less due to the cost of propane. I am regularly cold in my house, yet we still go through $72 worth of propane each week. :eek: It is totally insane! We bought space heaters for our rooms at night so that the heat runs less. We keep them in the school room and at dh's desk during the day so we can keep the thermostat lower. Of course, this caused our electric bill to increase by 50%(!!) but that is still less than the gas we would have used. It is absolutely crazy. We moved to this town because the housing was so much less than where we rented before, but golly! Our utilities were about $200 a month cheaper there! And we kept warm! Without the layers and layers of clothes we wear here. :mad:

[Osmosis Mom]

Well, lett me butt in with my own naggin here. We are somewhat chilled as well here in NH. Oil prices are just high and require that we cut down on fx. our food budget. So no roasts for a while here while it is cold, lol!!

I have definitely cut down on driving which mean we are staying home! Can't walk anywhere here so that's only a temporary solution. We just bought an SUV as well so right there our gas expenses are going to stay high whether or not I drive less!

Nadia

[Jan in SC]

I'm not driving less, but I have kept my mini-van and not bought the much coveted Suburban.

[sdWTMer]

I hardly take my suburban for a drive anymore! :(

It's tough! Of course, my kiddos aren't in any extracurricular activities right now either, so that really helps!

Lucky for us too, that we live really close to almost any place that we need to go to these days.

[Jenny in Atl]

No, driving about the same. The old Volvo gets pretty good milage but it still hurts when I fill the tank ~ 39$. I know for many that's nothing.

[Luanne]

I don't go anywhere unless it is absolutely necessary (like work or the library).

[WTMindy]

We have always conserved trips, but even more so now. Fortunately, I don't have to leave my side of town too much.

[jubilee]

I am not as quick to run to a store for alone time as much. We have always tried to plan our outings around what needs to get done. No joy riding for our family.

[StaceyinLA]

because of the prices! Because we live 12 miles from the nearest town with ANYTHING, and 40 miles from BR where we do most of our major shopping (produce markets, Sam's, Whole Foods, etc.), I try to combine as much as possible. We go in for Spanish on Tuesdays, and I run errands while the kids are in class. We usually go one more time on the weekends (movies, mall, etc. for teens), but I try to keep it at that. I go to the smaller town 12 miles away once or twice/week at the most, and am trying to keep it to once.

It's surely frustrating to watch the gas gauge go down...

[PariSarah]

We did that back when gas went up to the exorbitant price of $2 a gallon.
:rolleyes:

So, it'll just have to come out of something else.

[readwithem]

We lived in the UK for a few years and got in the habit of walking wherever we could. Now we do the same - we're within walking distance of Whole Foods, a pizza place, the bank, and a pharmacy. My 16 yo is learning to drive so we've actually bumped up our driving a notch :)

Americans have better gas (or petrol) prices than the rest of the world. In the UK we paid the equivalent of $5 per gallon - and that was 6 years ago so I'm sure it's even higher now.

[Tammyla]

I'm likely trading in the mini van this spring after the roads thaw. There is no walking here most months. Like Osmosis Mom, we are rather chilled here too.:eek:

I cut back last summer by driving less, combine trips and drive dh's Honda when ever possible.

[Sparkle]

I can't believe how much I've spent in gas recently-- now it costs about $50 to fill the minivan tank, and that lasts less than one week for us. Now I am trying to conserve on the driving I do, but still I feel the need to get to the activities we do (math club, art school, music lessons, etc). Anyone else wondering what they should do differently about driving?

I try to drive as little as possible since we have a full-size van, and it gets pretty poor gas mileage. I always combine errands in one trip whenever possible. Most things are quite close - the library, grocery stores, post office, etc. The farthest trips are for church - it's about a half-hour away, but only once a week, and the other is for 4-H - it's 80 or so miles away, but it's only once or twice a month. Kind of painful though. I do try to be very careful about only driving when I really need to.