I am a believer that if you have no control over something, it is pointless to stress about it. As a result, unless you are some oil executive or have ties to the Saudi royal family, there is NOTHING you can do to change gas prices. Yes, there are some ways that you can limit the amount of gas you use (see here and these tips should be followed. However, once you have followed that advice, you are helpless to further effect gas prices.
How much money are we really talking about here? Let’s say that an average person drives his/her car 12,000 miles per year and has a very modest 25 miles per gallon performance. For this example, we will also assume that the price of gas has gone up $1 per gallon. How much more money per year will this person have to spend on gas–$480. Now I am not downplaying the effect of $480 on anyone’s budget. Who couldn’t use an extra $480/year? In addition, I will concede that increased gas prices can cause almost everything else you buy to go up in price since gas in its production or transport. Still, I believe the amount of focus on the increasing gas prices is way overblown.
Instead, I propose that you focus you energy on other ways to make money or save money. This blog is littered with ways to make money, so I will leave that subject alone. Consider the following ways to save some extra cash:
1. Make a call to your cable company. Have you taken advantage of their bundled services yet (cable, internet, and phone service)? I will save over $720 this year just because I did this via Comcast. Did you know you can also negotiate with your cable company? Call them and start talking about cancelling HBO or another premimum channel and see if they will offer you a better deal. You might have to commit for another year or two, but you will save some money.
2. Look at your cell phone bill. Are you spending extra money for text messages? All cell phone companies offer packages for text messages that can save you money if you are frequent texter. Do you use your cell phone for most of your long distance calls? Are you still subscribed to a long distance carrier on your land line? If so, get rid of it. I recently ditched AT&T and save myself about $30/month for a service I rarely used. For emergencies, I signed up with Pioneer Telephone, a company that has no monthy fees and only charges you for calls you make.
3. Buy a nice thermos. FIll it with coffee at home (you can even buy some premium, gormeut stuff). Drive by Dunkin Donunt’s and Starbucks and laugh at those people wasting their gas by going out of their way or just starting the car an extra time. Packing your lunch will give you the same results.
Hey. I’m up for swapping links. I’ve got you in my blogroll already.
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I like that…focus on things that are under our control. There’s definitely room for improvement for me.
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I both agree and disagree with you. I think higher gas prices are good, because they force us Americans to look at our lives and make adjustments.
But on an individual level, higher gas prices are painful. As a college student, gas to get to campus is 35% of my expenses right now, and that’s with me trying my best to drive as little as possible!
In the end, I have to be willing to make adjustments: taking more online classes, bunching my other classes together on two or three days of the week, and looking into getting an off-campus job.
Also, people have to know what changes WON’T save them money. For example, I could move back to campus and drive less, but that would only save me money if gas hits $15 a gallon before I graduate next year!
good point stephanie–I can’t downplay the harm that gas prices can cause
My main point is that since you can’t control the prices, concentrate on something that you can control.
Yeah, even though we can’t change the price of gas, we can limit our consumption of it. You’d be surprised to learn how something as simple as going a little slower makes your gas tank last longer – http://www.mpgforspeed.com/
Well, we’ve already negotiated the best possible packages for our cell phone and communication networks. We did that a few months ago when it was time to change plans.
And I took care of the coffee situation years ago by switching to the cheaper coffee at work; and in more recent times to brewing at home.
But the overall point is good. Sometimes you just have to find something else to cut back on.
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I agree don’t focus on complaining, focus on action. Change your driving habits, change your commute, be smarter about the amount you drive. Focusing on action should stop the complaining.
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Very good point. I marvel at the people that will drive further to a petrol station or buy their groceries at a more expensive supermarket to get a 4c/litre off petrol voucher. That would save me a grand total of about $2.40 on a tank of fuel. That would be a maximum saving of $5/month for me. By shopping at a cheaper supermarket I save about $160/month.
Ok, I got your point , good way of thinking!
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In general we all like to complain a lot – so much that we often don’t realize we’re doing it. The reality is that gas prices have gone up drastically but if you look at the price of gas in Europe I’m pretty sure they’re still paying more than we are. Budget for it and adjust.
Complaining about something for the sake of complaining is a waste of time.
Excellent post, common sense and rational. I guess even I am guilty of overreacting and not “thinking” sometimes. I have done many of things you suggest in your post, and you are right. Budgeting and careful planning, whether gas is high or not, is always a smarter way to live and find progress. Enjoyed the read.
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Great post buddy, but you know that everybody always complain about anything. But such a good information and suggestions. Thanks for sharing.
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Well, there is nothing we could do about the increasing fuel prices but there are lots of things that we all could do in saving more with our fuel and gaining more MPG. I hope that the hybrid technology would soon be adapted
LOL- ah, so you really are a closet socialist!
Well, cashcrateworks , I can understand why you say we shouldn’t complain but then again, the fact that we drive more (and don’t have a choice about that in most cases) means that any increase in price does affect us more. It’s still not a huge part of my budget but there’s no doubt that you feel it when the price increases by 50% or more in a short period- and for some people, there isn’t enough expendable income to cover the increase.
In other words, the volume that we consume is the problem and that makes us more sensitive to price fluctuations. So then you probably think, “consume less”, but you really have to visit the US to see why that generally isn’t very possible. Most of us live in suburbs that are miles from our workplace simply because there isn’t affordable housing close in to the urban centers. And even shopping and schools aren’t constructed in a way that makes them accessible without cars in most cases. The infrastructure would have to change, drastically, before any of us could significantly cut back on fuel consumption.
The reality is that gas prices have gone up drastically but if you look at the price of gas in Europe I’m pretty sure they’re still paying more than we are. Budget for it and adjust.
Absolutely true! Are you really going to NOT drive because you have to pay an extra $.50 cents a gallon?
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Agree need to change some of the habits lie Change our driving, but still price always concern for some people , lot more thing on which people need to concentrate need to better planning hope your good post can give more careful thought and idea rather than shouting on price.
Now that gas prices have dropped I haven’t heard anybody shouting for joy. Has everyone just moved on to the next best thing to complain about.
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Wow, I never knew that about Gas Prices!. That’s pretty interesting…
Gas price is getting higher and higher and we can do nothing about. That’s why it is better to seek information that could help us on how we are going to conserve that energy. This article is very informative on how we are going to serve gas.
I admit I wanted to drive less when it was four bucks a gallon, but I was transporting my son back and forth to college a hundred miles away four times a week. It was getting pretty tough. Now that it is back around two bucks, I’m not complaining!
That is a really great way to look at the situation with gas prices! I too feel that there are many other ways to save money and not worry about the fuel prices. Many of the ones you mentioned I already have done…cable company and phone company. What about removing the charge of local TV from your cable provider!
Good thing the trend is reversed, I’m just not sure about 2009.
As soon as the economy recovers and people have enough $$$ to pay for gas, demand will increase. This, in turn, will drive gas prices right back up again. Enjoy the low prices while you can!
I never complained about gas prices really. But now I’m happy to see them drop a dollar over the past 6 months.
I guess even I am guilty of overreacting and not “thinking” sometimes. I have done many of things you suggest in your post, and you are right. Budgeting and careful planning, whether gas is high or not, is always a smarter way to live and find progress. Enjoyed the read.
Good thing I never complained about the gas prices.
After our generation, oil prices will skyrocket since there will be no oil left. But that’s okay.. it’s not us!
That is a really great way to look at the situation with gas prices! I too feel that there are many other ways to save money and not worry about the fuel prices.
The reality is that gas prices have gone up drastically but if you look at the price of gas in Europe I’m pretty sure they’re still paying more than we are. Budget for it and adjust.
I agree with you 100%, the maximum savings you can have is the multiplying factor of 480 gallons. But even then, you can save more money by adapting smart driving habits. By anticipating red light ahead, you can slow down by allowing your car to coast rather then maintaining your speed and then using your brakes. By starting your drive slowly, you would save even more. By maintaining your car on regular basis, you can save additional 20%. You would be surprised that I am getting 26 mpg on my 2001 Dodge Caravan on the freeway and 22 mpg in the city. I am not claiming to be the best driver, but after over 1,000,000 miles (with just 5 cars) driving I finally figured out that speed, and anxiety is not worth the ten minutes arriving early. Believe it or not, 7 times out of ten, I actually arrive sooner than the guy zig-zagging in the traffic, because i notice that i actually beat that driver, while they get stuck behind slow driver during their maneuvering driving habits.
These xtra tips (specialy with termos and lunch) are great!
I’ve given up already, whats crazy is water prices. I have to pay more for a glass of water then I would for petrol! How crazy is that? There’s no sense in it, and here we are complaining about gas prices. People are stupid, there are other things to complain about like why the government is not forcing gas prices to lower even after the price of oil has drop by 50%
There’s something fishy and no ones talking about it.
Cable companies are already offering bundled internet and cable tv services at a cheap price “”