How are gas prices impacting your life?

[mommyoffive]

How are gas prices impacting your life? 

What are you doing to save?  How are you dealing with the increased cost? 

Are you canceling things? 

If gas doubles in price what will you do? 

[YaelAldrich]

Heading to Costco twice today.  Fill up both cars.  I know there will be a heck of a line today.  Them's the breaks.  I hope we force Russia to her knees.

Also increasing the fee to the tutor who travels to my home.

[Faith-manor]

Right now it is making us question whether or not we should make our one week jaunt to the house in Bama. This is only because we had an unexpected $800 college expense. Well more like $1300. T

Sigh.

So we have a credit card balance we need to pay before the end of the month that we didn't have budgeted. Otherwise, we would still go despite the fuel being more expensive.

We may have to shorten our road trip in May with the boys depending on where gas prices go. We already shortened it from going to Yellowstone, to just going to Rapid City and doing Custer State Park instead. But we were on the edge of the maximum budget and the boys were fine with the change. Probably the savings is enough from that to not have to shorten it again, but it all depends on where fuel prices go by April 30.

At this point, Mark is still working from home, and I am not taking any music gigs that are more than an hour away. I did up my price to accommodate fuel costs for anything more than 20 miles from here. Otherwise, we are just home/local a lot so doing okay. Our propane was locked in back in the fall through April 2022 so that is fine, and we do have some more wood so we can run the wood boiler here and there to save money.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Faith-manor

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Right now it is making us question whether or not we should make our one week jaunt to the house in Bama. This is only because we had an unexpected $800 college expense. Well more like $1300. The college tacked on graduation fees and a whole bunch of new lab fees onto dd's account this month, then without warning drew all of that out plus the regular budget payment we make. On top of that, the fees charged at the beginning of the semester for his senior project, didn't end up being paid out for the components because his professor conveniently forgot to order his team's supplies along with everyone else's. This left everyone in a lurch because they can't graduate in April if they don't successfully complete the project, and the college said it had a policy of NOT paying for express shipping so nothing could get here in time to build before the deadline. So we shelled out $800 after having already paid $500 at the beginning of the semester in order to get the components here on time so ds and his fellow team mates will be able to graduate. $425 of components and $375 for all the express shipping because we don't personally have any commercial accounts with these suppliers. Mark talked today with the dean and with the business office. They have NO intention of refunding us for this mess, not even the original $500. He is not going to pursue it any further because we don't want ds in hot water and for them to manufacture some excuse why he can't graduate and has to come back for a semester. BUT, as soon as the degree and transcripts are in hand, we are suing in small claims court, and they will either have to send a lawyer down here -7 hrs each direction so that is going to burn a whole in their wallet - or have the judgment go against them for not showing up. I think that second one is what will happen. Even with representation, we have all the documentation of what they have done, what they charged, us, what we paid, and even recorded the phone comversations. 

Sigh.

So we have a credit card balance we need to pay before the end of the month that we didn't have budgeted. Otherwise, we would still go despite the fuel being more expensive.

We may have to shorten our road trip in May with the boys depending on where gas prices go. We already shortened it from going to Yellowstone, to just going to Rapid City and doing Custer State Park instead. But we were on the edge of the maximum budget and the boys were fine with the change. Probably the savings is enough from that to not have to shorten it again, but it all depends on where fuel prices go by April 30.

At this point, Mark is still working from home, and I am not taking any music gigs that are more than an hour away. I did up my price to accommodate fuel costs for anything more than 20 miles from here. Otherwise, we are just home/local a lot so doing okay. Our propane was locked in back in the fall through April 2022 so that is fine, and we do have some more wood so we can run the wood boiler here and there to save money.

I am sorry about the college mess.  I hope it works out later. 

[Faith-manor]

5 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

I am sorry about the college mess.  I hope it works out later. 

Ya. I hope so too! I deleted some of my rant because so figured no one really needs to read through that in a thread about fuel prices. I am just really annoyed today with the college.

[mommyoffive]

3 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Ya. I hope so too! I deleted some of my rant because so figured no one really needs to read through that in a thread about fuel prices. I am just really annoyed today with the college.

Oh I would be too.  I am sorry.  Let me know if you want me to delete your quote. 

[Faith-manor]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

Oh I would be too.  I am sorry.  Let me know if you want me to delete your quote. 

Oh, no worries. I didn't delete for personal details. I just figured the post was too long for a thread about fuel prices since my rant had nothing to do with fuel!

[JustEm]

Nothing really yet.  Dh works 5 miles from home so his gas use is minimal.  Dance is 20 miles away and we go there 5 days a week but we're not changing that.  So, mostly I'm just making sure all my errands happen at the same time I'm out doing a dance drop off. We really don't go anywhere else regularly right now.

Come Friday we will be a 1 family vehicle again because when we moved in with my parents my dad basically just told us to use his truck he barely used instead of getting our own second vehicle.  I'm driving the truck 1000 miles to him on Friday and then we'll be down to one vehicle.  We were going to buy a second vehicle but I think with how things are right now we will just stay at one vehicle.

[fairfarmhand]

I think very carefully about going out now. I was already pretty careful, but now its even more so.

[Pawz4me]

We're fortunate that our family should be able to weather any increases w/o a big impact.

We rarely buy gas more than once every three weeks for our main vehicle, and with just a little thought we probably could extend that to once a month. I suppose we'll leave the truck parked even more, but we usually just use it for hauling stuff anyway. We have breathing room in our budget for other price increases (groceries, etc.). We'd already decided to not do any traveling this year other than (perhaps) a day trip here and there, so there's nothing to think about cancelling.

Our adult sons also won't be much impacted, I don't think. One has a whopping five mile round trip work commute and a very fuel efficient vehicle, the other's job is permanently work from home.

I certainly hope this hurts Russia. It's absolutely the right moral thing to do.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Pawz4me

[JustEm]

With gas prices and groceries the way they are right now our budget is really hurting.  

[SKL]

I was wondering the same thing.

I should have filled up my tank a week ago.  What a difference a week makes.  Ugh.

Luckily, I don't have to drive a ton these days.  The majority of my driving is for the kids.  I have already told them that they need to walk home from school if they don't have a sport, but that won't make a huge dent, especially if it encourages my lazier kid to go for horse riding more often.

I think I should cut down on things like drive-through which the kids request often.  The other day we sat in line forever, and it felt so ridiculous.

I'm super glad I have a hybrid and that I recently serviced it.

And it's kinda good to have a reason to rethink some of the luxuries we have mindlessly enjoyed.

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

With gas prices and groceries the way they are right now our budget is really hurting.  

I agree.  I feel like everything in every area is going up.  Houses, gas, food, childcare, and on and on.  Having one thing go up is hard enough, but when it is everything all at once your income just can't keep pace with that. 

[JustEm]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

I agree.  I feel like everything in every area is going up.  Houses, gas, food, childcare, and on and on.  Having one thing go up is hard enough, but when it is everything all at once your income just can't keep pace with that. 

It makes me so thankful that we'll have geothermal within the next few weeks, that we are in our house for the long term, that we have the privilege for me to stay home, and that I'm pretty good at making us live on a bare bones budget.  That is what I'm working on today, no one is going to be happy once I talk about implementing it.  The only thing I'm not willing to give up is dance for the girls.  Although intensives may be off the table this summer. We'll see.

[SKL]

Also, while I'm not the person who orders delivered groceries, I think I'm going to suggest that we limit the deliveries to once weekly.  So what if certain people have to eat something that isn't particularly tantalizing right now.  There's a war going on.

Also turning down the thermostat.  This is something I would do if I had my druthers anyway, but the current situation could provide the motivation needed to convince others.

When we go somewhere as a household, we usually drive the van, but that is a gas hog.  We should use one of the hybrid cars for things that don't involve extra baggage - even though my kids will bitch and moan about being crammed into the back seat.

[Jenny in Florida]

Honestly, not even a little bit right now.

(Acknowledging my privilege, absolutely.)

My husband and I both drive small, fuel-efficient cars. We work from home (which I don't like, but have to admit is helpful right now). My bonus young adult moved out into her own apartment a couple of weeks ago, so we no longer chauffeur her to and from work. 

I have virtually nowhere I need to go. 

So, yes, it costs more to refill the cars' tanks, but the difference isn't enough to take any meaningful bit out of our lifestyle (yet). 

[1234]

It’s not affecting us. We only have one car, we can walk to the store and restaurants, and Dh works from home so we rarely fill up as it is. We’re moving a few hours away soon so that will require filling up the car and Uhaul. We’re moving into the city though so once there we will be driving even less than we are now.

[Dianthus]

I promised the kids a trip if they reached a milestone. They reached it. The trip will be expensive now, but I can't break a promise. We've been talking about a larger family vacation too, but I'm not sure now.

I had just been planning the summer to include lots of activities, like driving to the pool most days. I don't know if we should do that now. We live far enough out that any activity is a bit of a drive. So sad because I wanted life to feel fun and normal again.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Spirea

[thewellerman]

We were just starting to do more activities again, but now we are rethinking.  Even though we could shift things around in our budget and manage, it just feels selfish and irresponsible right now.  I don't see things getting better anytime soon.  

[YaelAldrich]

Just bought airline tickets to see my parents in March. Ouch! Double the price I paid in February. Miles doubled too so I just paid by credit card. 

[melmichigan]

We use a gas card.  The advertised price is $4.26 a gallon, we paid $3.85 a gallon today.  We'll fill both vehicles and condense trips when possible.  Otherwise we are more impacted by food prices and an upcoming job change for DH.

.

Edited March 8, 2022 by melmichigan

[prairiewindmomma]

Our life is set up so that we can walk or take public transport everywhere, so the actual getting to places isn’t a concern on a daily basis.

High petroleum prices affect the price of nearly everything, so we are much more concerned about that…and are doing a mix of canceling some things, buying ahead must-have allergy friendly items, and adjusting life accordingly. Honestly, the pandemic induced shipping/logistical issues combined with inflation had already set these changes into motion for us—an example of this is that we are remaining down a vehicle instead of buying a EV this summer as planned. 

[fraidycat]

They're not so far, but it's only been a couple weeks. Depending on how bad they get, it might impact our summer vacation plans, but we might just go ahead and do them anyway because this is a trip we've been planning to do since 2018, but we put off to 2020 to build up a better financial cushion, then Covid happened and...

If we do still go, we'll probably take the smaller, less comfortable for long road trips, hybrid vehicle instead of the bigger, more comfortable, gas pig.

🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[Annie G]

We just took out first trip (outside of visiting relatives) since March 2019.  On the way home we talked about how good it felt to be out and about again, and started planning more short (3-4 days) trips for this year. And then once Russia invaded Ukraine we pulled back and are rethinking them. We can afford the higher gas since we put aside our travel money from the past few years. However, we’re working through whether we should stay home to conserve gas or whether to go ahead w trips because places need tourists go help them after pandemic losses.  Like a poster mentioned above, it seems selfish to go on with life as normal. But what about businesses who need travelers to spend money in their areas? 
 

 

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

 

If gas doubles in price what will you do? 

I am used to gas being high and California has another gas tax increase coming up. However if the price double, work from home would definitely be extended for my husband’s department because even his higher ups won’t want to drive to office.

Our main impact would be groceries since gas price doubling would mean grocery prices skyrocketing. We have already started stocking up on non-perishable food just in case.

[Meriwether]

It is painful for us. I'm cutting back where I can. We have four road trips planned in the next 6 weeks - Chicago this weekend, Minneapolis in a couple weeks, Las Vegas in a few more, and Kansas some where in there. I do what I can to keep the cost of competing down, which is why we drive. Flying with multiple kids is cost prohibitive. We are committed to these tournaments and I have to pick up the beef from my parents when it is ready. I'm doing what I can to cover the difference from household expenses.

[QueenCat]

2 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

How are gas prices impacting your life? 

What are you doing to save?  How are you dealing with the increased cost? 

Are you canceling things? 

If gas doubles in price what will you do? 

Almost everywhere I go is within 15 minutes of the house. I don't see curtailing those outings at this point. 

If gas doubles? I'll get better at planning "wants" from the grocery store. I'm pretty good at planning the "needs." Dh only goes in to the office once a week. That won't change unless the base commander changes something (he's a contractor, not military, but his company will follow the lead of the commander). They've just started going back this week due to the decrease in Covid, so I doubt anything will change. 

We have a road trip planned in August. It's somewhat necessary as we need to deliver more of our son's things to him. That will require the use of our larger vehicle. I guess it would be cheaper choices of restaurants while there and still go... but I really don't know. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by QueenCat

[Dianthus]

49 minutes ago, melmichigan said:

We use a gas card.  The advertised price is $4.26 a gallon, we paid $3.85 a gallon today.  We'll fill both vehicles and condense trips when possible.  Otherwise we are more impacted by food prices and an upcoming job change for DH.

.

What is this gas card?

[Faith-manor]

52 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

Almost everywhere I go is within 15 minutes of the house. I don't see curtailing those outings at this point. 

If gas doubles? I'll get better at planning "wants" from the grocery store. I'm pretty good at planning the "needs." Dh only goes in to the office once a week. That won't change unless the base commander changes something (he's a contractor, not military, but his company will follow the lead of the commander). They've just started going back this week due to the decrease in Covid, so I doubt anything will change. 

We have a road trip planned in August. It's somewhat necessary as we need to deliver more of our son's things to him. That will require the use of our larger vehicle. I guess it would be cheaper choices of restaurants while there and still go... but I really don't know. 

Though a pain, since we really want to make the road trip this spring with our sons I am taking all of our food. We have a really good arctic large cooler. So I am making enchilada casserole, barbecue pulled pork, chicken and rice casserole, chili, lasagna, turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach and egg quiche, sausage gravy and biscuits ahead of time and freezing. Each day we will get the evening meal out to thaw and microwave it at our hotel. We are taking the camp stove and cooking brats, steaks, and hamburgers at various lunches when we are in the state and national parks, and then I will also make up pasta salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, fresh veggies and fruits, boiled eggs, hummus, and ranch dip for when we are picnicking at rest areas or can't cook out due to inclement weather. Instead of bread, I will have tortillas and wraps available for the fillings. We will eat a lot of salads with the evening meals, but I will also have some microwave steam bags of broccoli and green beans as well. It is a pain to plan, but it also saves a lot of money vs. eating out with three foodies in their twenties who tend to "eat a horse" especially the two who do a huge amount of hiking. If I had my druthers, we would eat out so I don't have to think about food. However, it is the only way we will stay within budget for the trip. It is also.better for me since with the GF issue, it limits what I can eat out. I just get tired of dealing with food. 😜

Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there as one idea.

[Brittany1116]

We had been casually looking for a replacement van for about a year prior before used prices soared. Van gets 18ish mpg and we are rural. 

We have always tried to consolidate trips to save money/gas, but are incredibly aware of it now. 

I was planning to travel in June to see my new niece but I may wait because that sister said she may have to come down here in July anyway. It would be a few hundred in gas even if the prices stayed where they are now.

[rebcoola]

My DH is in a hurry to have his motorcycle up and running for spring so he can commute on it instead of in the F350 diesel.  It's not some long commute. 

We've talked about making oldest take the bus to school we've been driving her because the lack of drivers has the bus schedule being ridiculous.

[Sharpie]

I live very rural where stores/activities are a minimum of a half hour drive or significantly more.  I am limiting my driving considerably.  I'm trying to go once a week to do all errands/groceries, etc.  I fill up every time I'm out because I know the price will be even higher the next time I'm out.   I am trying to find ways to cut back because everything is costing more. 

[Carrie12345]

Many of our past things still aren’t back from Covid, so we still don’t do nearly as much driving as we used to.  I guess I can’t complain about that now, lol. I was going to look into the spring schedule for our community college’s youth program, but now I’m not so sure.  I’m probably going to attempt to shift back to my old school routine of grocery shopping every other week, but I don’t know how I feel about that yet. Dh can work from home more, and stop leaving work to go home or out for lunch.

We did get a pretty powerful solar “generator” that is not for the whole house, but it can take a significant chunk off our bill/usage. It was meant for the new house, but here we are. New house is also getting a wood burning stove.

Our food storage is about as good as it can get, so we *can skip *some things at the grocery store for a while if/when prices are real rough. Farms are closer than the stores, so I’ll do what I can there, once the season starts.

I was thinking about a family trip this summer, but I haven’t been able to plan without a decent timeframe for moving. Gas may be another reason to just skip it.

I generally already combine errands, but I’m sure I’ll get more restrictive about it.

[QueenCat]

41 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Though a pain, since we really want to make the road trip this spring with our sons I am taking all of our food. We have a really good arctic large cooler. So I am making enchilada casserole, barbecue pulled pork, chicken and rice casserole, chili, lasagna, turkey breast with mashed potatoes and gravy, spinach and egg quiche, sausage gravy and biscuits ahead of time and freezing. Each day we will get the evening meal out to thaw and microwave it at our hotel. We are taking the camp stove and cooking brats, steaks, and hamburgers at various lunches when we are in the state and national parks, and then I will also make up pasta salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, fresh veggies and fruits, boiled eggs, hummus, and ranch dip for when we are picnicking at rest areas or can't cook out due to inclement weather. Instead of bread, I will have tortillas and wraps available for the fillings. We will eat a lot of salads with the evening meals, but I will also have some microwave steam bags of broccoli and green beans as well. It is a pain to plan, but it also saves a lot of money vs. eating out with three foodies in their twenties who tend to "eat a horse" especially the two who do a huge amount of hiking. If I had my druthers, we would eat out so I don't have to think about food. However, it is the only way we will stay within budget for the trip. It is also.better for me since with the GF issue, it limits what I can eat out. I just get tired of dealing with food. 😜

Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there as one idea.

 

My dh would just say, "we're spending more," before he'd go for that... He can barely stand the idea of bringing lunches along on a car trip. But I do see what you're doing as a great way to make trips work. 

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, melmichigan said:

We use a gas card.  The advertised price is $4.26 a gallon, we paid $3.85 a gallon today.  We'll fill both vehicles and condense trips when possible.  Otherwise we are more impacted by food prices and an upcoming job change for DH.

.

What gas card do you have?

[Ting Tang]

If we are speaking of only filling up our gas tanks, we tend to be more conservative despite living a few towns away from necessities.  We try to merge trips.  But my daughter has a coach that is about 80-90 miles away, depending on if we go to her house or a gym, and the lesson is expensive.  We may do some zooms (which my daughter hates) or try to have longer lessons less often.  There was a time in my life when I was not so privileged about driving.  I worked in nonprofit and had to live somewhere cheaper and commute farther, and that happened when gas prices were last at their highest.  I know what it feels like to have to fill up twice a week on a modest income.  Factor in the inflation and shrinkflation (anyone noticed that with food?), and it is really hard on people. 

[athena1277]

We are ok at the moment.  Dh works from home 4 days a week and he’s only about 10 minutes from the office when he has to go in. We are about 5 minutes from church.  The only regular things are band for ds and ahg for dd5, each once a week, about 15 minutes from home.  I’m trying not to make a lot of extra trips anywhere for now.
 

What is starting to concern me is travel in April.  We have plans to see a show dd19 is in at her college 3 hours away.  We already bought non-refundable tickets.  The next weekend ds and dd5 have a big event 2 hours away.  I did tell dd19 that she absolutely has to get a ride home for spring break next weekend because I am not paying that much money for gas when there’s at least 10 people she knows who live near us that could give her a ride.  

[Faith-manor]

7 minutes ago, athena1277 said:

We are ok at the moment.  Dh works from home 4 days a week and he’s only about 10 minutes from the office when he has to go in. We are about 5 minutes from church.  The only regular things are band for ds and ahg for dd5, each once a week, about 15 minutes from home.  I’m trying not to make a lot of extra trips anywhere for now.
 

What is starting to concern me is travel in April.  We have plans to see a show dd19 is in at her college 3 hours away.  We already bought non-refundable tickets.  The next weekend ds and dd5 have a big event 2 hours away.  I did tell dd19 that she absolutely has to get a ride home for spring break next weekend because I am not paying that much money for gas when there’s at least 10 people she knows who live near us that could give her a ride.  

Spring break! Ya. I get what you mean. We had to do the round trip twice last week (7 hours each way) because he goes to a college that has no one else from our area enrolled. We couldn't even get him to Mackinac just to shorten our trip...everyone had carpooled, and he couldn't find a seat with anyone. It was an expensive week. He is my last one in college, and graduates in April. So we have a big expense to attend commencement, but are committed to doing that. Then, voila, no more college commutes! Yay for us!!!

[Condessa]

I’m pretty anxious about it.  I am doing my meal planning further out so I can grocery shop less frequently, and we are replacing optional family activities that are further away with close things, like going to the local park, and replacing treats out with treats at home, like having homemade milkshakes instead of stopping for ice cream.  But honestly, there really isn’t much we can do.  The vast majority of our driving is for dh’s work or ds7’s medical care.  I already had to change our budget a few weeks ago to give more funds for groceries and gas, and that required giving up a goal I had for the year to put the minimum amount into the kids’ 529 accounts to get our state’s tax refund on it.  It is likely that further gas hikes are going to cut into our ability to fill the IRAs this year.
 

We have a road trip planned in May for my brother’s wedding and to see the other side of the family.  We’re packing our food as well.  Dh and I are each getting gas money for our birthdays, and we have a vacation fund we had been setting aside some money in with the intention of taking a big family trip next year after ds7 finishes his chemo.  Instead that is going towards gas, too.  
 

I fully support the ban on Russian oil, but it is going to hurt.  I really hope our government is willing to allow measures for energy independence to help ease the pain.

[Loowit]

We are very fortunate that DH works from home.  If he were still commuting it would be a huge strain on the budget, which is already strained with the increase in groceries and pretty much everything else.

I am glad DS's allergy shots are now monthly.  That is a 40 mile drive each way.  I am trying to limit store pick-ups to once a week when possible.  We are trying to keep our vehicles topped off as much as possible.

We are still going on our road trip next month.  We have been saving for months to be able to make this trip.  I do not want to miss DS graduation if I can at all help it.  We will likely overspend our gas budget for it, but we can afford it I hope.  We may decide to change our route back to be a bit more direct home instead of sight seeing, but I doubt it.  We have never done much travel as a family and this is something we have all been looking forward to.

I do think we will cut out some day trips we were planning, which is sad because getting out and hiking has been good for our mental as well as physical health.

[freesia]

We had some activities already planned that we went ahead and did, but wouldn't have if they hadn't already been scheduled.  We have actually paid more for gas when we lived in Canada, so it feels less shocking than it would.  I am limiting trips into town and consolidating things--the library and extra grocery store trip at the same time as dropping dd at her babysitting gig. I will think twice about activities, but my kids really need them--particularly social activities--after Covid.  Tbh, it's the grocery prices that are the hardest. I'd gotten more relaxed and we've enjoyed some treaty type food( by this I mean frozen mangos, not junk.) I need to get back to my old style grocery budgeting.

't

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, freesia said:

We had some activities already planned that we went ahead and did, but wouldn't have if they hadn't already been scheduled.  We have actually paid more for gas when we lived in Canada, so it feels less shocking than it would.  I am limiting trips into town and consolidating things--the library and extra grocery store trip at the same time as dropping dd at her babysitting gig. I will think twice about activities, but my kids really need them--particularly social activities--after Covid.  Tbh, it's the grocery prices that are the hardest. I'd gotten more relaxed and we've enjoyed some treaty type food( by this I mean frozen mangos, not junk.) I need to get back to my old style grocery budgeting.

't

Me too.   I am not sure everyone is willing to jump on the bandwagon with me in my home however. 

[Faith-manor]

13 minutes ago, Loowit said:

We are very fortunate that DH works from home.  If he were still commuting it would be a huge strain on the budget, which is already strained with the increase in groceries and pretty much everything else.

I am glad DS's allergy shots are now monthly.  That is a 40 mile drive each way.  I am trying to limit store pick-ups to once a week when possible.  We are trying to keep our vehicles topped off as much as possible.

We are still going on our road trip next month.  We have been saving for months to be able to make this trip.  I do not want to miss DS graduation if I can at all help it.  We will likely overspend our gas budget for it, but we can afford it I hope.  We may decide to change our route back to be a bit more direct home instead of sight seeing, but I doubt it.  We have never done much travel as a family and this is something we have all been looking forward to.

I do think we will cut out some day trips we were planning, which is sad because getting out and hiking has been good for our mental as well as physical health.

I get that! We are in the same boat, and after two years of pandemic hunker down and bizarro world, my family really needs this so I am going to try my best to make it happen even if it doesn't seem wise from the outside looking in.

[mommyoffive]

Just now, Faith-manor said:

I get that! We are in the same boat, and after two years of pandemic hunker down and bizarro world, my family really needs this so I am going to try my best to make it happen even if it doesn't seem wise from the outside looking in.

I get that so much.  Man it would be easy to slice things that are expensive off the table had the pandemic not happened.  Or had we done more during it or even last summer.  But I can't keep taking childhood from my kids.  How I wish that what they were into was local, but it isn't.  

[thewellerman]

4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Me too.   I am not sure everyone is willing to jump on the bandwagon with me in my home however. 

I am not willing to jump on the bandwagon in my home, and I'm really dragging my feet to accept this reality.  I have so much to do in any given day, that adding cooking from scratch just feels like too much.  

[historically accurate]

4 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

How are gas prices impacting your life? 

What are you doing to save?  How are you dealing with the increased cost? 

Are you canceling things? 

If gas doubles in price what will you do? 

At this point, I'm sticking my fingers in my ears and screaming "Lalalalalala, I can't hear you!" 

We basically go to work and doctor's appointments. We will have to pick up Oldest from college this week (and return her next weekend). Youngest was looking to do some sort of sports this spring - I'm not sure we can handle that and the increased cost of gas & groceries. 

No extra trips to stores - Saturday has become errand day - nothing beyond this. 

I have no idea - we would literally not be able to afford it if gas prices double. Probably go in debt to go to work/doctor. 

[Idalou]

It does not bother me personally yet, as we drive very little until warm weather arrives. We are thinking more about getting a hybrid vehicle in the coming year.  I am tired of all the ignorant people blaming this president and hope that they find some way to expand their understanding because this is only the beginning.

[BlsdMama]

It’s going to hit us hard. The van (the only vehicle that holds all of us and/or can fit my wheelchair) gets about 11 mpg. We drive to our homeschool program twice on Mondays, once on Tuesday, twice on Thursday, and once on Friday. We live out in the country. Our kids drive for jobs. We drive to Costco (45 miles) twice per month. At $3 gas, we spend about $840/month. It’s going to double….

Kid #2 will quit job until she is 16 or 17.  We will likely both cut down on trips/think about dropping some activities in the fall AND buy a minivan that I can drive but not take the chair. It will be cheaper than the big van but really unfortunate for me. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by BlsdMama

[Faith-manor]

3 minutes ago, BlsdMama said:

It’s going to hit us hard. The van (the only vehicle that holds all of us and/or can fit my wheelchair) gets about 11 mpg. We drive to our homeschool program twice on Mondays, once on Tuesday, twice on Thursday, and once on Friday. We live out in the country. Our kids drive for jobs. We drive to Costco (45 miles) twice per month. At $3 gas, we spend about $840/month. It’s going to double….

Kid #2 will quit job until she is 16 or 17.  We will likely both cut down on trips/think about dropping some activities in the fall AND buy a minivan that I can drive but not take the chair. It will be cheaper than the big van but really unfortunate for me. 

I am sooooo sorry, Kelly! That sucks. I wish we did more to subsidize income and costs for disabled people in this country. 

[Ting Tang]

1 hour ago, Condessa said:

I’m pretty anxious about it.  I am doing my meal planning further out so I can grocery shop less frequently, and we are replacing optional family activities that are further away with close things, like going to the local park, and replacing treats out with treats at home, like having homemade milkshakes instead of stopping for ice cream.  But honestly, there really isn’t much we can do.  The vast majority of our driving is for dh’s work or ds7’s medical care.  I already had to change our budget a few weeks ago to give more funds for groceries and gas, and that required giving up a goal I had for the year to put the minimum amount into the kids’ 529 accounts to get our state’s tax refund on it.  It is likely that further gas hikes are going to cut into our ability to fill the IRAs this year.
 

We have a road trip planned in May for my brother’s wedding and to see the other side of the family.  We’re packing our food as well.  Dh and I are each getting gas money for our birthdays, and we have a vacation fund we had been setting aside some money in with the intention of taking a big family trip next year after ds7 finishes his chemo.  Instead that is going towards gas, too.  
 

I fully support the ban on Russian oil, but it is going to hurt.  I really hope our government is willing to allow measures for energy independence to help ease the pain.

I hope the same about energy independence.  I have a Ukranian wreath hanging outside, so I am very sympathetic.  But we also need to look out for the people who live in our own country.  Sending you positive thoughts and hoping you are able to still take that trip with your family!