Gas - things you're doing to not feel the pinch

[jennylou]

So, I thought this would be a great idea for a thread. With gas at $4 per gallon, I'm sure many of us are doing something.

I am driving only when necessary. I watch 2 cousins 2 days per week (soon to be 3) and they are now being dropped off at my house, since school is out. Sure, someone (their mom and dad) are still using gas to pick up and drop off, but it's not my old car with crappy gas mileage (thankfully, it's at least paid off!). This summer, we'll be sticking at home a lot. I can probably pull weeds in the garden and let the kids run around in our super huge back yard. Still, I think we're going to need some more out door toys (I'd love a swing set and sand box for the kids - mine included). :) Once it really warms up, I'm sure that a little pool and a sprinkler will be fun for all. :)

I've been combining trips for months. We'll continue this one as it's a great way to save money. I only go out towards the mall (and target, the better grocery store, etc) when I have a need to be there - like going to our credit union or Home Depot.

I've made the big switch to cloth bags at the grocery store. It's really not that hard for me to remember them. Since plastic bags are made using oil (or is it petroleum? - either way, it's a good thing to do), I figure this is an easy thing that anyone should be able to do.

I wish I could walk to more places. I figured out the distance of walking to the local grocery stores. One place is 1.25 miles each way. Easy enough - except when you factor in where you are walking through. High crime area, not something that I would feel safe doing. The next closest is Super Walmart. It's about 2.25 miles in each direction. In theory, I could walk that. In actuality, there isn't a side walk the entire trip. Nor is there a cross walk to walk across the state route (which is four lanes of traffic, plus two turning lanes in either direction). So, not safe - but for a different reason. The next closest grocery store is 3.3 miles away. Kind of far for a trip to the grocery store, but I might give it a try once just to say I did it. :) Good news is that the area I'd be walking is all safe and has sidewalks. I would have to walk over a railroad track, but I figure that's no big deal compared to the other two stores.

[Chimichanga]

We're only driving when necessary and trying to combine trips as much as possible. The Super Walmart near us has about 5-6 other stores we could frequent around it. We just park in a central location and walk to the other places.

This weekend I also got a bike, so I hope to be riding more places. We still need to get a trailer for DD, but once we get that, I'd imagine I can easily enough run errands with that (and put things with DD in the back). Our area isn't high in crime, and the roads are decent enough. We also have a GREAT bike trail about a mile from my house (using back roads) and that cuts through my whole town.

[imagirliegirl]

We don't have a lot of options but we do the little bit we can. My husband has a guy he carpools to work with so that's at least helping ease the pain a little. I go to school every day and it's about a 20 minute drive so I run any errands I have on my way home. We have grocery stores nearby but it's not really possible to walk. We don't go that often so it would just be too many bags to carry back. My health also gets crappy when it's really hot so I wouldn't be able to tolerate walking there and hauling bags back in the heat anyway.

[Sarah]

My husband bikes to work- but not for the gas, he's just always done that. It's about 9 miles each way, on semi-dangerous routes, but he loves it, it's exercise, and it gets him home at least 30 mins earlier than anything else. It's cheaper, too- bus/subway/car would cost us a ton, and the bike only requires maybe 20 bucks a month of maintenance.

I combine all trips and try to brake and accelerate more carefully.

[jennylou]

Biking is something I should look into more. I think I'd need one of those pull behind carts. How far do you think a kid on a training wheel bike could go?

[Chimichanga]

Depending on the age of the kid, how comfortable they are on the bike and the weather, I'd say probably about a mile or so. I think if it's a "cool" trip, they could make it longer, but just for fun or a ho-hum trip, they'd probably stop earlier.

[EJH]

Getting out of the house on time to make a train in the morning; I still have to drive to get to a train with a schedule that works for me, but it's better than idling my way into the city.

This weekend we skipped a last minute trip to a baseball game in RI, it would have been 140 miles RT and was just not worth it. Before I never would have thought twice about it.

We skipped going out to an event in western Mass at the beginning of the month, we always attend and decided against it this year.

Taking advantage of our backyard staying home rather than going off at the drop of a hat to do something, OR if we are doing something, staying as close to home as we can.

My ILs are coming to visit at some point this summer for a couple of weeks and they are talking about renting a cottage that is a good 1.5 hours from us. I am trying to encourage them to stay closer if they want to see DD much, b/c I'm not trucking back and forth to Maine. ;) :rolleyes:

[Anna Low]

So far, we have done the following:

- combined trips and usually in one car. DH has his errands and I have mine, but we now try to run them together instead of going in opposite directions
- parking the less fuel efficient car. We have one efficient car and one that isn't so much. As a result, we use it only sporadically for short in-town stuff.
- DH and I carpool to/from work every day.
- pack my lunch and restrict eating out
- planted a vegetable (container) garden

[Sarah]

Oh yeah, I did plant a huge veggie garden this year, which is sort of about gas- I won't have to run to the store for veggies last minute, since they go bad so quickly, and the increased cost of fuel is one of the reasons food is so much more expensive lately. We planted corn, squash, cucs, zucchini, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberrries, watermelon and cantaloupe, peppers, broccoli, turnips, onions, peas, beans, and radishes, plus basil, chives, parsely, and rosemary. I am going to get get some kale, rhubarb, and mint from MIL today, as well. Looking into planting some asparagus, too.

[jennylou]

Oh, well, we planted our garden this weekend too. :)

[MichelleRenee]

I've been trying to walk more places. I did do about an hour walk to the library last week but it was exhausting!

The other gas-specific changes we have made include:

-Carpooling to work, which I think I have mentioned before means waiting 2 hours every day after I get off work for DH to get off work. VERY frustrating having to wait around town with a 19 month old!

-My dentist is in the direction of my sitter so I schedule all appointments right after my drop off time. (ortho too, so I see them a lot)

-We have condensed shopping trips and "gone without" on many occasions because it just wasn't worth it to drive to the store for a gallon of milk that night when we'd drive right by the store the next day.

-Grocery shopping at Giant Eagle and using fuel-perks to cut the cost of gas. This can be hard since we end up paying higher prices for the groceries so I have to be realy careful to buy generic/ with coupons/ what's on sale.

-We already own a fairly fuel efficient car, so that helps. My DH's Explorer is less fuel efficient so he only drives it when necessary.

-My best friend lives about 40 minutes away. We used to meet up every weekend to see each other, go shopping, eat lunch, etc. We only see each other once a month now, except for other occasions (grad party, etc)

-We canceled our vacation this year which was supposed to be a trip to Washington DC, driving.

-When people ask us what we want for our birthdays we say "gas cards."

-I switched to online classes to finish my degree.

There are tons of things we have done to save money that aren't gas-specific, like turning our heat down, canceling cable, not eating out anymore, using special occasion money to fix up our house instead of buying gifts or going on trips, cutting coupons, shopping second-hand for baby clothes, swapping clothes with friends/family with kids, DH picked up an extra day at work (now working 5 10-hour days), having my mom babysit instead of a daycare center, we gave up on movie theaters a long time ago........ it feels like our lives have become a non-stop quest to save money these days!! Luckily we both just got raises, which will help, especially with another baby on the way!

[Kopper]

I don't drive very much since I SAH and right now I haven't been getting out every day. We now live where everything is fairly close to us. Our house is a little further out but everything we need isn't as spread out as our old house.

DH no longer works from home but his commute isn't very long. 10 minutes usually at the most.

We combine trips and when we do get out it's usually only once for everywhere we need to go.

We are buying less food and are wasting less food. We only buy what we know we will need so nothing goes to waste.

We used to go driving all the time on the weekends just for fun and we don't do that anymore. It's kind of sad though because I used to love all those country drives and we had some of our best conversations during them.

[tealynn]

Packing lunch instead of buying lunch.

Sitting at my desk during lunch instead of getting out in the car.

Little to no retail therapy at lunch.

(who knew lunch could make such a difference!)

Taking a little longer, more traveled path to work vs. paying $8 tolls per day.

[Grenouille]

I live in a major city, so we walk most places or use public transportation. I carry groceries in my stroller basket or my backpack so I don't need bags.

I also just got a bike trailer and will ride my kids to and from camp this summer (weather permitting) and hopefully will continue to do so next school year.

[Kopper]

I forgot to say that I do a lot of shopping online instead of going to stores.

I buy most all of DS's clothes, toys, books, sippys online. I also buy almost all of my personal care items online and a lot my clothes. I've even bought food (snacks mostly) online and the majority of gifts I give were purchased online. I do most of this through co-ops and a little through regular online retailers. The co-ops end up saving me about 30-40% plus taxes and car trips. I also am exposed to a lot more things that way as well that end up saving me money (such as Klean Kanteens).

[imagirliegirl]

I want to plant a garden! We are waiting until we put in a fence since the neighbor kids and dogs come in our yard - I figure it would probably get ruined. :(

[Jenyfer9]

well, this isn't entirely true, but DH got a new job so he could always take the train in to work (not the only reason for the job change, but it takes at least 80 miles off of one of our cars each week!).

I have a scooter that I drive places when I'm going by myself (obviously). It gets about 100 mi/gal so if I have to drive somewhere to pick something small up (one bag of groceries will fit in my rear basket) and I'm not going to walk, I'll take that instead of the car.

Fortunately, we live a block and a half away from a grocery store and only a mile away from our city center (train station is there, lots of retail stores are there, most of our dr. offices are there as well) so we're not only supporting local businesses :) but we're saving on gas as well!

[KristyK]

Not going out on my days off, staying home. We're not going to do a vacation this summer, just stay at home and swim in our pool. I'm only shopping when I get off work and the grocery store is on the way. I'm trying to stay close to home, and it's actually saving me other ways. We also just joined netflix, so no more trips to the blockbuster.

We also bring our own lunches (well at least I do, still trying to get DH to continue taking his which is like pulling teeth!).

I'm trying to be good and not use gas, I'm seriously thinking about doing the cloth bags at the grocery store, just gotta get the oooomph to buy them now, and make sure they get back into the car after the grocery trips.

I honestly don't know how people who make much less money than we do are making it. I work with girls making half the amount of money I do and I know it's got to be killing them daily. I feel so badly for most of them because many of them are single mothers just trying to make it week by week. Many of them are working double shifts a lot to try and get some extra money. Not much I can do to help them when we're all in a pinch, but I try to be upbeat at work at least to try and keep peoples minds occupied.

[msnicolea]

Driving less, carpooling more--the basics. I definitely think long and hard before making any "unnecessary" trips--and I always try to combine outings/errands.

[Jenyfer9]

Also, did you know that if your car idles more than 30 seconds it uses more gas than restarting it? I turn off my car all the time now.

[jennylou]

jenyfer - I'll be turning my car off all the time now too. :)

So, I just map quested the library. 1.99 miles. Probably reasonable for me to push DD in her stroller to, but not so reasonable to expect a 5 and nearly 4 year old to walk to. I guess that just means I'll be going with DD on days I don't have the other kids with us.

[lunaria]

We sold our second car. It was never driven and it was a SUV (small one). It was paid off and it was hard to do but we didnt need it. DH has a govt car so he drives that to work. I am a SAHM and only drive our minivan (honda) when I have to. We have also combined all of our trips. I think I put 10K miles on the van last year and that included the drive from Florida to NM.

[kedzieb]

We've held off on replacing our car (that died in April) and take the subway everywhere instead. We've had to borrow a car a couple of times but it's amazing how rarely.

[AlisonCO]

-one day per week the kids and I walk to the store to get a few things and then we walk to the park to play and have a picnic

-DH bought a push lawn mower 2 weeks ago - we have quite a bit of grass and it cuts it so nicely, he can relax while mowing and get some exercise plus it apparently better for the grass, no $ for oil and gas and obviously better for the environment

-combining errands and trying to do them in one trip

-this summer when the farmers markets open I plan to do a huge shop at Walmart once every 3 weeks and then go to the farmers market once per week

-on the weekends we do less day trips where we have to drive 2 hours each way and do more biking, hiking, camping in the backyard

[villanelle75]

I am considering grocery delivery. It will be $12 for delivery. Our store is *right* on my way home so I doubt I will even break even on it, but I just did a test shop online and I think I will be much more thorough and therefore prevent a lot of trips to run and grab 1 or 2 items. It will also help me with meal planning and with keeping healthy, fresh foods around. The $12 cost wasn't worth it to me before, but I think it might be now, and for someone who lives further from the store and whose car gets lousy mileage, it might offset $12/week for delivery.

[mamax2]

I do most of this through co-ops and a little through regular online retailers. The co-ops end up saving me about 30-40% plus taxes and car trips. I also am exposed to a lot more things that way as well that end up saving me money (such as Klean Kanteens).

Can you tell us more about co-ops? Maybe over in the saving $$ forum or something? I'm very intrigued, but no clue how to get started on this. Thanks!

As for gas... we don't live in an area that's conducive to walking to stores, school, etc. :( I switched over to reusable grocery bags and joined a coupon service which really forces me to pre-plan and get all my groceries in one trip. It also forces me to stock up on 'pantry items' so I don't run out of the basics. Plus, as one person mentioned, I'll just go without if it's for a day and I can do a combo trip later.

[Rose]

Gas is 4.15 here and I need to fill up today or tomorrow. Ahhhh! I'm just staying home mostly. Going to work and that's is about it. I picked a physical therapist ( i'm having a problem with my shoulder that I have to go for a few weeks) right by my house and if I stop at the store it's right on the way home.

But really with gas so high there isn't a lot I can do. I can walk in to my town square which is good, it has food & a target but if I need to go anywhere else I have to drive. I don't live in an area with good public transportation.

[BridalLace]

typing one handed here...

we just switched to cloth diapers to save. no more parmesan cheese, no more goat cheese. generic bread at the supermarket.

[MichelleRenee]

Also, did you know that if your car idles more than 30 seconds it uses more gas than restarting it? I turn off my car all the time now.

I heard the same thing but it was if your car idles more than 1 minute. Then I looked it up online and some sources said a minute, some said 3 minutes and one even said 10 seconds. It is very confusing. How are we supposed to know which one is right?

[salysaturn]

We have always combined trips. We live in the country, so when we go into town, we make sure the town we go to, we plan accordingly. For instance, DH needed to get his glasses redone, so we went to THAT food store, even though it has less of a selection. If we need to go to Target, we hit Kohls then too, and go to that food store. Right now, biking to work for DH anyway isn't possible. Too far (17.5 miles, not much roadway), but when the new office opens, it's just 4 miles, and he will bike in. I have a bike too, but I WAH, so I don't bike:)

[salysaturn]

Well, forgot to mention I had a job interview today, with DH's work, and I spent the day in the city. I thought it was silly for us both to drive, if we were going to the same building. I just spent my day off chilling in the library. If I do get this new job, we plan on carpooling, and asking others to do the same (the ones that live close). I figure if we get 3 people involved, we can each drive 1 week a month.

[Ericka_Jarett]

I go out to Target and the grocery store in one trip, they are just a store apart.

We have a few trips planned for this year, not all driving far at least. Three of the trips are right here in PA up to 2 1/2 hours away for our family reunion at my Aunt and Uncle's in the mountains. The other is to the airport for a week long trip. No other trips really. Once in a while trip to NJ to my mom's, she usually comes here though instead.

[lady1297]

So, I just map quested the library. 1.99 miles. Probably reasonable for me to push DD in her stroller to, but not so reasonable to expect a 5 and nearly 4 year old to walk to. I guess that just means I'll be going with DD on days I don't have the other kids with us.

Jenny, my 3 1/2 year old often walks at least 2 miles during our walks. Do you have a wagon or something for the middle aged kids and sling the new baby? Then it's just the 5 year old and there is no reason why he/she can't walk that far. Take drinks, snacks, and enjoy nature while you walk to keep them interested, we stop for bugs, cool flowers, different trees. If it interests a 3 1/2 year old, it ought to interest a 5 year old. You can do leaf collections our pressings, look at seeds, then when you get to the library, look up things like that with the older kids. I say walk! :)

-----------
Saving on gas:

We mostly combine trips. I stopped going to my LLL meetings unless we have other trips that day. We also use cloth diapers and cloth bags which save us lots of money. I would walk or bike to the store, but it's all up hill and our trailer would only hold one or two bags of food and I could only backpack at most one bag, so that might not work too well for us right now. Maybe once my older son is in school and it's just one kid.

We also haven't been up to see the inlaws which is 2 hours away. Sad I know, but with gas prices, it's not happening.

[elladee]

We've started making diesel for DH's truck. We can make it for less than $2/gallon. That's compared to the $5/gallon at the pump.

[jennylou]

lady - ooh, a wagon. :) I could borrow the wagon that they have right now and perhaps get the three kids to take turns walking and being pulled, that way none of them get tired. If I can get DD on my back in the MT (doesn't work on the belly this year, lol), I could probably just pull the two older kids that way too. Right now, I'm just logistically thinking of this summer. After the summer we'll have to re-evaluate with all four kids. I did find out that there is another (very, very small) branch of the library much closer. My husband thought I was nuts for wanting to walk there - I told him he's just lazy when it comes to walking. ;)

elladee - how does one make diesel? Not that I have a car that is diesel, but if one can make it, my next car might be diesel!

[allyray231]

We are house hunting and are taking the price of gas into account. Also we usually visit DH family in NYC at least one a month. We plan to not travel as much this summer

[Katie&Micah]

Dh just bought a bike and has been riding it to work (only 3 miles each way). I'm no longer going out just to buy a soda or something. It saves the hassle with the baby, the money for the gas and the money I would have spent on junk food.

[PinkMartini]

I heard the same thing but it was if your car idles more than 1 minute. Then I looked it up online and some sources said a minute, some said 3 minutes and one even said 10 seconds. It is very confusing. How are we supposed to know which one is right?

10 seconds? :eek: That's shorter than I wait at most lights!!!

We've been cutting our 'extra' driving down as much as we can. DH has a 45 min commute (one way) to work so he's been taking the car instead of the truck (which gets less mileage). We've been using cloth bags at the store for months now and I just don't go anywhere during the week (as a SAHM). There's not much to do here anyway.... Pretty boring but we just can't afford for me to make the drive into town every day...

[katmg]

We just finished reading a book on eating local, so we've been trying to do more of that. We also planted our own tiny container garden (so far, two strawberries and three jalapenos).

DH and I have tossed around the idea of buying him a used, compact commuter car. He has a truck that gets crap gas mileage - it's paid off though and he uses it for hunting and fishing so we don't want to get rid of it. His commute is about 30 miles round-trip in bumper to bumper traffic so if we could get a more fuel efficient car just for that, I wonder if we would save money.

I just found a new hairdresser that is only 2 miles away instead of 12 miles away like my old one. Plus this one is almost $100 cheaper for color and cut!

[elladee]

jennylou, you make biodiesel by reacting waste vegetable oil (we get used fry oil from restaurants) with methanol and lye. We sort of based our process on what this guy did: http://www.green-trust.org/making_biodiesel.htm

JourneytoForever.org (http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html) has lots of good information, too, but I can't get their website to load right now.

[salysaturn]

jennylou, you make biodiesel by reacting waste vegetable oil (we get used fry oil from restaurants) with methanol and lye. We sort of based our process on what this guy did: http://www.green-trust.org/making_biodiesel.htm

JourneytoForever.org (http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html) has lots of good information, too, but I can't get their website to load right now.

Theft is up at local restaurants because people are stealing used oil (at least in DC).

[mamax2]

Speaking of theft...

Does anyone know if you can buy some sort of locking gas cap? One of DH's work trucks had the gas siphoned out of it. That's like a $100 loss! :eek:

[Kopper]

Speaking of theft...

Does anyone know if you can buy some sort of locking gas cap? One of DH's work trucks had the gas siphoned out of it. That's like a $100 loss! :eek:

You should be able to get one at any autoparts store. DH has one on his truck. I don't have one b/c I can only open the gas door thingie from inside my car.

[salysaturn]

I was just going to post that, but also in DC, people have just been drilling a hole in the gas tank and taking it that way. They said trucks are prime since they are hig off the ground.

[Annette]

I've been taking DH's Prius to work since he works from home. We also use cloth shopping bags. Other than that we haven't done much else.

[kristin]

We are finally moving closer to DH's job. That cuts his commute from over 2 hours EACH way to about 15 minutes each way. He has had a company car (with a gas card) for the last 6 months and it has been a lifesaver. We were paying something like $400/month in fuel (he also travels by car for his job).

DH also works for a wind power company :)

I will be commuting to my new job via train (although it's not a much cheaper option where we live).

[Belm]

We are doing a lot of what has already been stated throughout the thread.

DH commutes to work with 2 other guys. That is really helping us a lot.

I'm walking more to do little errands - going up to the fruit stand, the post office, the grocery store.

We don't use plastic bags (haven't for years) and we have a small veggie garden.

What is killing me is going to my m/w appointments, the hospital is about 35 miles away.

[AmandaLeigh]

The biggest thing that I have done was negotiated my schedule at work (I'm in restaurant management). I agreed to work double shifts on Saturday and Sunday in exchange for an extra day off. This saves me about $10 in gas and a ton of money on parking!

Other than that, I walk to several places - mostly the library and the drug store. We rent netflix instead of going to the movies. We hardly ever go out to eat; I either cook or bring home food from work if we want a treat.

[SiValleySteph]

To be honest, nothing really.

I only fill up 1-1/2 to 2 times per month and my car only holds 10-11 gallons, so the impact is still quite small. That's only about $20-$25/month increase in gas costs. Pretty negligible.

I guess because I don't drive that much compared to others and I have a pretty high gas mileage car, it doesn't have that much impact.

I do think about things like driving up to Ikea, which would take a gallon of gas there and back. Worth the $4?

We'd already made decisions (such as to live close to our jobs, shopping, food, etc., not drive big cars) that make the impact small.

ETA - DH probably drives a bit more and fills up a little more often than me, but he also drives a small car, so our total impact is still <$100 month, maybe $60-70/month? On actual gas prices ... not including groceries, etc., that have gone up.

[Chimichanga]

I have been able to join a carpool at work. A gal is going to share the ride with me. I'll be driving, due to taking DD with me, but she'll pay me. Which will help lessen the load.

We're also looking into trading our SUV for a more fuel efficient wagon. DH's car gets about 34 mpg, so unless we go hybrid it's actually pretty good (and he does mostly highway driving, so he puts the miles on and it's not idling). The SUV is around 20 mpg, and while we don't use it a ton, it's still something we can improve upon. We found a few wagons that get close to 30 mpg, and we'd still be able to carry DD's stuff around.

[tandt]

We're also looking into trading our SUV for a more fuel efficient wagon.

You may want to do some research-- I heard last week that many dealers aren't giving any worth (or some not even taking) to SUVs since they can't turn around and sell them. This came from a friend of mine in the auto industry here in Atlanta.

As for us, I'm working from home almost exclusively and being very careful about errands and combining them.

DH was pumping gas the other day and a guy came asking for him to buy gas for me. Now, I can understand folks asking for food or $$, but it's sad when gas is a request from panhandlers!

ETA-- and, I was SO ticked off this weekend. I was shopping with my ILs and a cop pulled into a parking spot to go into a store and LEFT THE CAR RUNNING. I thought it would just be a minute, but he was parked there for a good 15 minutes. It was in Hilton Head and not where I live or I would have filed a complaint that tax dollars are being wasted in an idling car!

[PinkMartini]

DH was pumping gas the other day and a guy came asking for him to buy gas for me. Now, I can understand folks asking for food or $$, but it's sad when gas is a request from panhandlers!

I'm sure you didn't mean to write "buy gas for me" but I just found that a funny error :p

[tandt]

Oh, too funny! I meant him....fingers running too fast!

[PG-rated]

Is it more efficient to leave your car idling? (http://www.slate.com/id/2192187/)

According to the above article, you're wasting gas by idling more than 10 seconds.

[Chimichanga]

You may want to do some research-- I heard last week that many dealers aren't giving any worth (or some not even taking) to SUVs since they can't turn around and sell them. This came from a friend of mine in the auto industry here in Atlanta.


Oh, now that wouldn't be good for us! Although, every person at work who has bought a new car recently (even within the past few weeks/months) it has been an SUV/truck. There are a ton of people who do hunting/camping and a bigger vehicle is appreciated. But, this is good to know!

[MichelleRenee]

You should be able to get one at any autoparts store. DH has one on his truck. I don't have one b/c I can only open the gas door thingie from inside my car.

If someone wants to steal gas they can easily pry your gas door open with a screwdriver. A friend of mine learned that the hard way.

[looch]

I have decided to forgo dry cleaning. I am slowly weeding out the dry clean only items from my wardrobe.

[jennylou]

If someone wants to steal gas they can easily pry your gas door open with a screwdriver. A friend of mine learned that the hard way.

And, I heard on the news that they're going under the cars and emptying out the gas that way too. :(

[Dotsie]

I used to drive all the time. Now I walk up the street to pick up the little things needed. It's only 2 blocks but I walk now. It's helping me get a bit healthier and save a bit of money.
I also lump all my major shopping into one trip. I shop at Target, Shop Rite and Petco and they're all in the same plaza.
We've pretty much parked my DH's pickup in the driveway. I have an suv, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper to drive my v6 than his v8.
I also stopped buying a lot of red meat. The prices around here are sky high. It stinks because I really don't like chicken or pork all that much.
eta: I stopped eating lunch. I was really not all that hungry in the middle of the day anyway. I'll just eat a piece of fruit while I work if I do start to get hungy. That alone has saved me quite a bit.

[tinkerbelljenny]

I haven't changed anything yet, I guess because we haven't felt the so called "crunch" yet. We have always been savers and huge coupon shoppers and always save more than we spend. However, I think this year I will grow a bigger garden than last year.

[pewee9196]

I walk a lot. When I have to go over the MTN for errands I only go when I need to do Target, BJs and something else. No trips to the mall because it is too far away!

[myshel]

I've started combining shopping trips. I've also sought out some cheaper options for certain things. School's coming to an end for me, so my driving will be virtually non-existant for the next two months.

[eli1126]

So far nothing huge, but I consolidate all my errands, utilize the library for books and DVDs, and we're eating at home a lot more. I only have to fill up my car 1 every week and a half to two weeks. I am also fortunate that we have a good size yard with a large deck and an above ground pool for enjoyment. So we will be spending our summer enjoying it.

[ManteoChik]

Well, I have to drive for work - so driving less isn't really an option so I've been cutting back on other things to make up for the price of gas.

***I usually stop for a Latte at the local coffee shop, but I've switched to getting a regular cup from 7-11...which is actually really good.

I've tried to cut back on the driving I do not for work, running errands together instead of when the mood strikes me.

I still eat out just as much because SO travels a lot, and its cheaper for me to eat out than cook for myself - since I don't eat leftovers I tend to have food go to waste.

***On the same note, a Starbucks just opened (we don't have many chain things) and as much as I like supporting our local guys, the Starbucks is better AND cheaper than the local coffee shop.

[DallasLady]

We've pretty much stopped eating out. Gas is now our second highest monthly expense next to our mortgage.

[jennylou]

We've pretty much stopped eating out. Gas is now our second highest monthly expense next to our mortgage.

Yikes! I guess you must either drive a ton or have a vehicle with horrible gas mileage, or maybe both. ;)

It's sad, but our gas budget prior to gas going up by $1 was $20 cheaper than our food budget. We need to sit down tonight and go over June's budget to make some adjustments - both gas and food may end up changing.

[MichelleRenee]

We've pretty much stopped eating out.

Us too. It is hard because I am pregnant and craving certain restaurants. (Olive Garden.......) We went out last week for our anniversary and I still felt extremely guilty spending that much on dinner.

I forgot to come back in and post that when we called to cancel our cable they offered us 6 months free! Woohoo!

[jennylou]

Us too. It is hard because I am pregnant and craving certain restaurants. (Olive Garden.......) We went out last week for our anniversary and I still felt extremely guilty spending that much on dinner.

I forgot to come back in and post that when we called to cancel our cable they offered us 6 months free! Woohoo!

We're pretty much not eating out either. When we do - it's with a coupon or it's lunch, lol. I went to the Olive Garden last week with a cousin and she picked up the tab - totally didn't need to, as I was prepared to pay for my $5.95 all you can eat salad, soup and breadsticks, but it sure was nice. :)

That said, today's paper had IHOP coupons, BOGO with drink purchases. I told DH that if we eat out at all this month it'll be there. Oh, and my mom is coming my bday weekend and she said we'd go to Olive Garden for my bday - I got a coupon for that too! It's only $4 off of two dinners, but it's a start, right? :)

[Anna Low]

We have definitely curtailed our eating out. At one point, we used to go out about once a week. Now, maybe once a month. For quite a long time, we've both packed our lunch for work - even when times weren't awful, I had a hard time spending about $10 or so per person (meal, tip, cost of gas, etc.) on lunch 5 x a week.

My container garden is growing along nicely. I hope that my grocery bills this summer will be somewhat reduced as won't be buying as many fresh vegetables.

One thing we are going to try this summer is to not turn on our house A/C. Whether we can actually accomplish that remains to be seen, but I'm going to give it a good shot.

[Kopper]

One thing we are going to try this summer is to not turn on our house A/C. Whether we can actually accomplish that remains to be seen, but I'm going to give it a good shot.

Man I wish!! Good luck! I was in the 90s here yesterday and should be again today.

[jennylou]

Today I walked to the BFing support group. 1.63 miles there. I pushed DD in her stroller. All in all, not a bad walk. :) On the way back, I walked about .8 miles (according to mapquest). DH was driving home from work and picked us up, lol.

I could definitely walk more often, though I did mis-guess the amount of houses before the sidewalk starts (no sidewalks in front of my house). I thought it was about five houses, but it's actually 17 houses, plus 3 double lots. And even then, the sidewalks aren't good until you make it about 38 houses down (yes, I counted). That was the hardest part of the whole walk honestly - the rest wasn't really bad, as it was on sidewalks and under trees.

BUT, I did end up with some nice sweat under the pits, lol - I always sweat more while pregnant, so I assume this is why. Last summer, I used to go walking at a local metro park (there was a random attack there this year, so I'm now forbidden by DH to go by myself) and walk way further than that and not sweat nearly as much!

[katmg]

I'd love to walk more places but with the heat and the humidity here, it's just not feasible. Not even figuring in having to cross a major interstate, etc. Houston is not known for being pedestrian friendly. :(

I wish we could go without the a/c here as well, but I don't see it happening. We already keep the a/c set at 80 most of the time.

Has anyone done any calculations on whether it saves you money to do things like make your own bread, etc instead of buying the processed versions at the store?

[jajacobsen]

DH started riding his mtorcycle to work. I

combine all shopping trips with my work commute.

And because of the drought, we have severe watering restrictions so no, we're not putting in pretty annuals and/or watering our lawn at all. Which will make it grow slower, so less mowing equals less gas.

We eat out maybe once per month, and bag our lunches every day. We didn't always do this but we certainly are now.

[Chimichanga]

DH and I just did our monthly shopping yesterday. While we'll go weekly and get milk and fruit and stuff, we were able to get our whole month done for about $125 for two adults and a toddler (so really 2 adults). We figured we'll keep the whole month to around $200 - which is MUCH better than the $650 we spent last month. it's just amazing how things can add up when you run out for x or y or z each day because you don't plan ahead.

[MichelleRenee]

it's just amazing how things can add up when you run out for x or y or z each day because you don't plan ahead.

Definitely!!!

I forgot to add - I have signed up to be a secret shopper so on occasion we go out to eat and are fully reimbursed for the meal. It isn't ideal because it is hard to come across assignments in our area on days we are available.

[trestlegirl]

Nothing, really. I have always lived a conservation-oriented lifestyle and have always driven a high mileage car, so I only fill up my tank ~twice a month. The extra $20 or so is not a big deal to me. SO did give up his SUV for a fuel efficient car several years ago when he took a job with a longer commute, but now he's working from home and thinking about getting an SUV again. We have vegetables delivered once a week, can walk to the farmer's market on Sunday, and there is a drugstore nearby which I can walk to if I need milk or butter in a pinch, so other than going to Target and PetSmart every few weeks, we don't run many errands by car. We chose to pay more to live in an urban area with walkable amenities, rather than pay less to live in the suburbs but spend all our time in the car. (we seriously sat down and did a lifestyle and cost evaluation when we moved here 9 years ago and decided that the money we would save living in a less expensive area would be lost by all the extra driving we'd have to do. Boy am I glad for that decision now!)

I haven't had a bike for a while and am planning to get one soon, and then we'll be able to ride our bikes to visit friends or go to the grocery store. But the $$ for a beach cruiser is probably more than we'll save in gas. It's more for exercise and fun.