On Sunday March 20th, the average price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.57.
This cost hits me in the pocketbook pretty hard since I have a 100 mile round trip commute. Thankfully I am allowed to work at home one day of the week, and that adds up to quite a savings. My vehicle gets 18mpg. I don't have the money to buy a vehicle that gets better mileage so I have to cope with the situation as best as I can.
One of the ways I do that is to use the Out of Debt Again Free Gasoline Calculator, an Excel spreadsheet that I created a couple of years ago. It's free, go ahead and download it and check it out for yourself.
You can answer the following questions with this tool about your gasoline usage in the past, present and future:
- How many miles per gallon is my vehicle getting?
- How much does it cost me to drive one mile in my vehicle?
- How much will it cost me to drive xx miles in my vehicle?
- How much will it cost me to drive xx miles for xx days in my vehicle?
- How much money will I spend on gas if the price goes up to xx?
- How much will I spend on gas for one month’s worth of driving?
By my calculations, I am looking at having to spend $57 to drive into the office three days.
But how much higher can I go?
If the price goes up to $4 a gallon, it will cost me $64.
If it should go up to $5 a gallon, God forbid, I'm looking at $80 a week.
That's going to make things, but there's a bigger problem to worry about than can I afford $80 a week for gasoline. When the price of gasoline rises, everything else rises. Groceries are going to become more expensive, because the trucks that haul them to us are paying more for fuel. It's like a domino effect. If you're on a tight budget like we are, make sure you've got your seat belt on because the ride is going to get rougher.
We witnessed this happen first hand with our dairy goats. Hay was going for $9 a bale four months ago, and it has now gone up to $15 a bale. That is quite a huge jump in cost, and one that we just weren't able to absorb.
Are you concerned at the rising costs of gasoline and the domino effect?
Here are some posts I enjoyed recently in the blogosphere:
- Whole New Mom – Inflation, One Way to Beat It
- The Digerati Life – Earthquake Survival Tips and Nuclear Disaster Insurance
- Money Crush – Mortgage Payoff Progress and Quarterly Goal Update
- Ultimate Money Blog – When It Rains, It Pours
- Funny About Money – Alley Treasures
- Home Security System in Canada
- Budgeting In The Fun Stuff – Why I Never Want to Buy A House Again
- Beating Broke – Reducing the Cost of Your Car
- Reliance Protectron Review
- Frugal Zeitgeist – Cars with the Worst Gas Mileage
- Lazy Man and Money – Planning for the End of Days
Ugh, I hate when gas prices rise like this 🙁 It is so annoying!
I love what you’ve done with the site- it looks awesome!
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
March 28th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
@Mrs. Money, thanks! Trying to tidy things up a bit.
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Between gas and food, I starting to get concerned! As gas keep going up, it will affect food prices as well. After all there is only so much you can do with menus. I don’t know if I can drive less.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
March 28th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
@krantcents, I know I pretty much need to drive into work three days a week. 300 miles a week. Ouch.
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I just went on a 12 day roadtrip to SXSW with two friends. Our goal was to save money, the three of us splitting the cost of gas versus all three of us buying plane tickets. Definitely did not plan on the cost of gas rising so much between when we budgeted for our trip and when we actually left. YIKES!
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
March 28th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
@Jenna, I would imagine the cost of airline tickets is going to go up, too, so hopefully you still saved some money in the end. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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My husband and I decided to go out for breakfast this morning and our choice actually included the cost of gas to get to the restaurant and back. We ended up at a restaurant only 1/2 mile away just to save money.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
March 28th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
@Kay Lynn @ Bucksome Boomer, that’s a good idea to just stay local. Maybe on a nice day you would just walk there? That sounds like fun actually. The closest restaurant to where I’m at is a greasy spoon that is four miles away.
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