BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cars What are you doing about high gas prices?

With gasoline prices in So. Cal. at $4.50 a gal. I think everyone is changing their habits. I've been driving a smaller car and limiting trips whenever possible. I am also going to be riding my motorcycle to work this summer.

Gas prices will continue to rise, so when (not if) the price of gas hits $5 or even $6 per gallon, what will you be doing differently.

I already have a small car, and I'm sort of committed to driving it as long as possible (I really don't like the practice of having new cars all the time. So wasteful and actually, I think it's silly, but that's just me.) So, as long as it's safe, I'm in the Hyundai.

But, I've been eyeing a scooter for closer to home errands. I'd ride my bike, but in Memphis, that's like wearing a target on your back. So is walking on main roads.

Unfortunately, still paying them probably.

It's now $4.65 here. Blech. We are trying to not drive as much as possible. Am looking for a scooter too.

Oh, Jilly, if you get one, you'll have to tell me about it. I was looking at a Yamaha one online that has room for carrying stuff. I need to carry stuff! It would be great for trips to the library or to go buy some fruit or something.

$4.65 - wow. Gas is $4.09 here. We leave our F150 pick up truck sit in the garage most all of the time and only take it out if we have to do some hauling in the bed of the truck. It's a gas guzzler. I drive my husband 3 miles to and from work every day in our little 2-door escort that gets about 28 miles to the gallon. I try to do most all of my shopping in one place, at a super store like Meijer where I can get groceries, household items, auto supplies, office supplies etc. all in one place. We eat almost all of our meals at home to save money. But these were our habits even before the gas crunch began because we have a son in college. Now with the cost of gas - it's a necessity.

Do you get low that price? hope you will do.

its between 3.98 and 4.03 in the city I work in and its 3.86 in the town I live in (about 20 miles away).

I go through about 45 dollars in gas every 1-1.5 weeks.

We drive a minivan and a ford escape, ugh... truthfully, the minivan was maybe a mistake in a lot of ways, but we bought it 2 years ago in a different set of personal circumstances, and with two kids under 6 it's been needed in many ways. I wish we could do something about the escape (I'm wishing we'd traded IT for the minivan, rather than our little ford escort!), but it's paid off and someone hit us in it right after we bought it rendering it basically valueless (urg), so trading it for a more efficient car at this point isn't very financially practical.

We've been definitely limiting use, and planning and blocking errands and outings more carefully. We're doing our best to limit A/C use - parking in garages when we can, walking farther for shady parking, opening the windows, etc.

It's definitely getting prohibitive for us...we'll be staying at home a lot this summer, making use of our swimming pool (since that's already costing a fortune, too, so we might as well use it. We've been gardening at home, trying to turn something sustainable into something that productively uses our time. We are severely reducing our lawn and changing over to mulch and native planting, and replacing ornamental plantings with growing food where we can. Basically trying to find our entertainment at home, to reduce gas use, as well as overall spending to make up the shortfall.

Nicki

Motorcycles are great, I definitely have always been a proponent of people using motorcycles / scooters for little trips around town. They can save so much on gas and pollution compared with a car!