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CTC Readers' Poll:
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"The #1 thing
that has helped us has been for my husband to
drive our more fuel-efficient car to work. He's
6'2", so he doesn't enjoy driving our Honda
Civic, but he does it because the savings of his
driving that car each day versus our Honda CRV
comes to about $50-60 a month. Also, I've
taken up sewing recently. It's been amazing to me
how much a new hobby can keep a girl in the house,
rather than out running errands!" ~ Anne
Marie
"When I was
younger, it was common for our family to take a 'ride'
on a Sunday afternoon stopping for ice cream along
the way and never really having a destination.
Unfortunately, my children have never heard me
say, 'Let's go for a ride and see where we end
up.' When I say we need to run
errands, I hear moans and groans because my
children know I will make as many stops as possible
while we are out in order to save gas. Since the
gas prices have become outrageous, my husband and
I have opted to use a credit card that gives us 5
cents off a gallon. We also use the cruise control
option when driving; this helps keep us at the
same mph and will save gas that way. My children
are in sports so we are carpooling with other
families in order to save gas. And lastly, I don't
run to the local grocery store like I
used to. If we run out of milk or bread, we
just improvise until I need a lot more groceries
and make the trip worth it." ~ Tonya
"My husband and I are fortunate that we
work about four miles away from each other, so
we carpool almost everyday now. We’ve also
started cutting back on the weekends. We try
to get all the errands done in one circular
loop, instead of zigzagging all over the
place, and then having to go back to the first
place because we forgot something.
We’re also sticking much closer to home now,
the community pool instead of driving 30 miles
to the beach. We were also lucky to find
a new pediatrician’s office closer to home,
so we switched doctors. It’s been kind
of tough because we’ve always liked to hop
in the car and just go exploring, but we’ve
cut way back now.
"I am
single so stay home more and I am saying
'no' to going out to eat or going shopping
with the girls I work with. On Sundays after
church if we go out, I use coupons or share
a meal with my sister or I bring half
of my food home for another meal. I quit
drinking all sodas and started drinking
water. Most fast food and restaurants
charge $2.00 to $3.00 for a soda or tea.
I get so tired of hearing that it's
cheaper to eat out than it is to buy grocery
and cook. I am made fun of and laughed
at because I live with in my means. I
have challenged all my family and friends to
keep a daily record of how much they
spend and what they buy. Also,
remember that whatever MILES PER
GALLON your auto gets (15 to 40 MPG), every
time you get in the car and drive its
costing you $4.00 for each gallon used.
I THINK BEFORE I DRIVE. Maybe that should
become America's new slogan." ~ Carol
in KY
"I have
been lucky enough to find a great carpool
partner to share the drive the 23 miles to
work. Living in the country has benefits that
outweigh the bad things, but these gas prices
are really affecting us. Since I work so far
from home and I am not able to do grocery
shopping during my lunch hour, I have to be
especially creative in my errands. My mom and
I check with each other to see if one or the
other is going to 'town' to tag along or will
pick up necessary items for the other one. Gas
prices affected my youngest son from getting a
job this summer. We are about 8-9 miles from
any town and any job that he would have gotten
would require being taken and picked up. There
would literally be no way for him to make
enough money to pay for gas to have someone do
that for him." ~ Anggie
"We
are already a one car family. We've
become very conscious about making any
trip out in the car as fruitful as
possible. We carefully plan our route
and include any errands that need to be
run, eliminating any extraneous trips.
In addition, we're limiting grocery
shopping to once per week (a gas and a
money saver) as well as carpooling to
events whenever possible with family and
friends. We also take gas into
consideration in other decisions as
well. Recently my doctor wanted me to go
to a physical therapist 15 miles from my
home. Realizing the gas could get quite
expensive, I asked for closer referral.
Now my appointments are not even a mile
from my house!" ~ Marci
"In answer to your poll of high gas prices I just wanted to share with you that our church is having a 'Ride your Bike to Church Sunday'. The only problem with that is the majority of our congregation are senior citizens. Also, we live 10 miles and it's been years since we rode. We've cut way back on eating out and just running around the block to see the other farmers' fields. We only go to school for football conditioning, then our other child goes to community college daily. That's about it. My husband hauls grain and this has really hit his pocket. As long as he brings a little profit home I guess he'll continue. He doesn't get any surcharge which would be really nice." ~ Nancy B "My
family has begun to wait for errands to
stack up (especially the little ones),
choosing to do them all on one side of
town all at one time. We are using
the highway instead of the scenic route so
we can set the cruise control, and
carpooling where applicable." ~ Jen "My husband and I are retired and I work only two days a week. To help with gas mileage I try to use my car only one day a week when I am not working to run errands, etc. We go to a particular supermarket after church because it is close by. We keep our tires properly inflated and we don't keep heavy things in the trunk. We have switched to regular gas for one of our cars instead of premium and it seems to be okay." ~ Janice "When gas prices first started to rise I was commuting 100 miles a day, 4 days a week to work. It was time to purchase a new car and we found one that makes 31 mpg., and I started looking for a job closer to home. I now make that 100 mile commute once a week, and drive 20 miles to work the other 3 days that I work. While we still drive 4 hours one way to see our granddaughter whenever we are able, on most weeks I ration my gas to $30 per week. That will get me to work, and if there is no more gas, then I just spend my weekend at home. All my shopping is done on the days that I work---weekly shopping on the days I go farther. If I didn’t plan ahead enough, and we run out of something, then it’s just too bad--we have to wait until the next week. It has made me more organized, at least in the shopping and-list making department. I try to keep my speed down. It may not help much, but then again, it might help some. This winter I am hoping to coordinate my work hours with my husband’s hours so we can drive together to work 3 days a week. We are not suffering, and I feel like we are making small changes that help. In the future we may have to make harder choices, and this will help me get into that mindset if that happens." ~ Brenda "I
work from home 4 days per week and go to
my office 1 day per week. It’s 85 miles
each way. I have found that by setting my
cruise control at 65, it has given me an
additional 5 miles per gallon. It’s a
great savings and it also gets people off
my tail. They pass me by and I enjoy
my ride more. "This summer, the kids and I are doing things at home or closer to home because of the high gas prices. I'm also buying things online instead of driving to the stores. We own a minivan and a Honda Accord, so we try to use the Accord whenever we can because the gas mileage is better than the van." ~ Kathy
Editor's Note: Thanks to all these readers who took time to write! |