Gas Prices!!!!!!!!!!

[ole]

Hey, kat, you don't post enough! Come back sooner, sir.

So far, the rising price of gas has been only annoying. Depends on how far you have to drive and how often. Cut off one trip and you can afford the extra cost for all the others. Or feed the kids beanie-weinies for a month and you have the next one financed.

Recently returned from a 409-mile jaunt. The trip used almost 18 gallons, therefore, it cost me an extra $18. If I have to worry about where my next $18 is coming from, I might as well tuck myself into my books and start throwing a few bucks into a special savings account for next year.

Where that price of gas is really going to bite is the price of services that depend on truck traffic. That's your milk and groceries and MickeyD's. Had a rude awakening in that the price of my garbage pickup went up $90 over the year. A gallon of milk refuses to go much below $3.00 and groceries in general have crept up mercilessly. What extra it costs to fill your tank is only a pimple on your real cost.

I've recently foregone a 2000-mile jaunt so as to go for a 3000-mile one. Can't do 5000 in one year. (I do insist on an occasional rib-eye.) Some years ago, when we were both doing a 90-minute round trip daily, I would have been in a different position. But things change, and this hurdle can be overcome with some adjustments. How do you like macaroni and cheese?

ole

[RLQ1]

I commute to work roundtrip about 170 miles per day. Now that today begins a 10 day vacation for me, I think that I will just lay around the house, and maybe just make short day trips to various sites.

In the past, I would get out and drive, but those days are over. Pretty much the gas prices have put me on a rope.

[kat1121]

I was unfamiliar with the term, "beanie weinies," and it made me smile on an extremely dismal northeaster kind of day.

I am doing the 100-mile-a-day round trip commute, although I do work at home on Mondays, so that is a little break. But it is still 400 miles a week just for work. It is two tanks of gas in a Honda Civic (well, one and a half, more or less). Now, if I wanted a job checking beach badges, I could get something within walking distance but, the last time I looked, they weren't paying all that much. I have feelers out to see what else is available locally. At this point, I could afford to make a little less in trade for a shorter commute.

Yah, the groceries and everything else are creeping up. I make pretty good macaroni and cheese, and can stretch the grocery dollars. I'm on the Council in the town where I live, and we are currently setting the budget and trying not to let the garbage pickup go up anymore, along with all the other costs. But it is a balancing act.

We're doing the handspinning demonstration this Saturday in New Castle, Delaware, so I'll have to clock the mileage and figure out how much it cost. Maybe it is just cheaper to move further south and closer to some of the bigger events!

Kat in NJ

P.S. What is the correct wine to serve with beanie-weinies?

[ole]

The correct wine to serve with beanie weinies is milk, kool-aid or really cheap beer. The point is to maintain an input of protein, vitamins and minerals. Cheez-Whiz and broccoli will do that. Not admirably, but temporaily adequately.

Maybe it is just cheaper to move further south and closer to some of the bigger events!

No! It is almost never better to move somewhere you like as opposed to somewhere you make your living. You don't very often get both. Make your living first. Then do what you like. If you can do both at the same time, you are truly fortunate.

One hundred miles per day! You're spending half your life in your car to make enough to make it possible. What is wrong with this picture? You are, of course aware, that the wear and tear on the car and the insurance you pay for the privelege to inflict that the wear and tear is also a cost?

Don't know what you do kat, but have you considered just moving down to a simpler style? Over where I used to live, an enormous house was $100,000 and the kids had nothing more important to do than play in the band or to go out for football. Granted, the jobs didn't give big bucks, but the kids didn't go out for gangs and they didn't get into too-early intimate relationships. There is something to be said for flyover country. You might consider looking into it. There is little hope of the kids getting into big time, but most of them have long satisfying lives.. Just think about it.

But I ramble. I am a country boy. I've had my shots and have blown a few of them. But I was never tempted to go for the gold. And that's to my fault or my benefit. Depends on how you look at it. It's worked for me. It's really just a bit less stressful to live where no one cares who you are.

ole

[cw1865]

Ole, I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Living in NJ I used to commute from Riverdale, NJ to NYC which isn't particularly far, by bus. It took a toll on me that is for sure, I was in a constant state of fatigue.

Where I worked, we had a co-worker, Frankie, who lived in NY and who married and had a child. Wanting to raise his family in a 'safe' town, he moved to Northeastern PA and was commuting from Northeastern PA to NYC. This was about 2.5 hours per day and poor Frankie was literally a zombie....He would've been better off working full time closer to the house in PA and getting a part time job!