Ig gas goes up $.20 per gallon and you buy 16 gallons of gas per week, it comes out to an extra $166 per year, or $13 per month

LJ;548761 wrote:Ig gas goes up $.20 per gallon and you buy 16 gallons of gas per week, it comes out to an extra $166 per year, or $13 per month

Which, believe it or not is quite a lot to someone who has maybe $100 dollars left over a month after all bills/buying food, etc.

tk421;548780 wrote:Which, believe it or not is quite a lot to someone who has maybe $100 dollars left over a month after all bills/buying food, etc.

I used to live on $75/week for gas and food and anything else. I would not have noticed an extra $3/week

2.79 Here in sunny San Diego California Thank god I only fill up like once every 2 to 3 weeks due to the crazy amount of hours I work and we are out to sea a lot.

Ytowngirlinfla;548802 wrote:2.79 Here in sunny San Diego California .

Because like I said, it's a regional problem. Of course no one cares about the real reason, they just wanna spit their own reasons

HitsRus;548010 wrote:Prices have been inching up all week in anticipation of the Fed's decision to buy $600 Billion in Treasuries...Gold hit a record high too.

I am assuming NCF meant 'November 4th'...when the Fed formally took the action.
The election was on November 2....and did not have any effect.

Bingo. Effectively, buying 10% of our own debt back serves to devalue our dollar even further. Look for other commodities, such as sugar, cotton, and metals to rise as well. I heard on the news on Friday that cotton is up 80% for 2010. Oil is approaching $90/barrell and it has nothing to do with supply and demand as demand has been down all year. It all goes back to a government and their insatiable appetite to spend us into prosperity. There is a price to pay and the collection agency is calling.

Very thankful that I don't pay for gas and drive a 4.6 V8 truck

tk421;548672 wrote:Yeah, fan_from_texas saying gas prices at $3/gallon shouldn't effect anyone's budget is completely out of touch with reality. My mom makes around $20,000/year, it is a big fucking deal when gas prices go up higher and higher. To say otherwise is foolish.

For gas to go from $2.75 to $3 a gallon is less than a 10% increase. If she were going through a tank a week means the change is from $41.25/wk to $45/wk, or about $3.75 difference each week. I'm hard pressed to think that three bucks a week is dramatically affecting anyone's budget. All somebody would have to do is cut out one gallon of gas each week to make up the difference (or three songs from iTunes, or one trip to McDonald's, or one drink at Starbucks, or talk a few minutes less on their cell phone, etc.). Sure, there are some people where a few bucks a week puts them over the top, but a few behavioral changes like combining trips for errands, inflating your tires, taking the bus, walking, carpooling, and thousands of other simple things can make the difference there.

LJ;548761 wrote:Ig gas goes up $.20 per gallon and you buy 16 gallons of gas per week, it comes out to an extra $166 per year, or $13 per month

16 gallons per week would be nice. Too many variables to argue whether or not $.20/gallon makes a difference.

WebFire;549109 wrote:16 gallons per week would be nice. Too many variables to argue whether or not $.20/gallon makes a difference.

The U.S. average is 11 gallons per week or 580 gallons per year

BGFalcons82;548920 wrote:Bingo. Effectively, buying 10% of our own debt back serves to devalue our dollar even further. Look for other commodities, such as sugar, cotton, and metals to rise as well. I heard on the news on Friday that cotton is up 80% for 2010. Oil is approaching $90/barrell and it has nothing to do with supply and demand as demand has been down all year. It all goes back to a government and their insatiable appetite to spend us into prosperity. There is a price to pay and the collection agency is calling.

That's all well and good, but that approaching $90 is for oil delivered in december and will hit the gasoline market in Jan. Has nothing to do with the gas price on Nov 7th

My family spent $289.73 last month in gasoline. We pay $650 per month for daycare. $700 for mortgage. Two kids to feed. I'm currently taking my Masters classes. My dinner tonight was crackers and peanut butter. In my household, every single penny helps. I think the problem with our economy/society, is that we think that as long is it doesn't directly affect me and my own, it can't be that big of a deal.

I understand completely that, to many of you, that little bit extra is not that much, but to some people, it is. We don't expect you to empathize, but at least try to sympathize with some people who actually do struggle.

ernest_t_bass;549183 wrote:My family spent $289.73 last month in gasoline. We pay $650 per month for daycare. $700 for mortgage. Two kids to feed. I'm currently taking my Masters classes. My dinner tonight was crackers and peanut butter. In my household, every single penny helps. I think the problem with our economy/society, is that we think that as long is it doesn't directly affect me and my own, it can't be that big of a deal.

I understand completely that, to many of you, that little bit extra is not that much, but to some people, it is. We don't expect you to empathize, but at least try to sympathize with some people who actually do struggle.

so $5/week is the difference between you having steak for dinner and crackers for dinner? My cousin makes $45k per year, has a stay at home wife and 2 kids and they do just fine.

LJ;549189 wrote:so $5/week is the difference between you having steak for dinner and crackers for dinner? My cousin makes $45k per year, has a stay at home wife and 2 kids and they do just fine.

Every. Penny. Helps. Do you want to come to my house and judge me you stupid mother fucking prick? I do just fine, but an increase in gas prices affects me (and a lot of other people) more than it affects some others. Why can't you just be (and say) "ok" to that? Who in the fuck are you to judge me or anyone else?

ernest_t_bass;549200 wrote:Every. Penny. Helps. Do you want to come to my house and judge me you stupid mother fucking prick? I do just fine, but an increase in gas prices affects me (and a lot of other people) more than it affects some others. Why can't you just be (and say) "ok" to that? Who in the fuck are you to judge me or anyone else?

Because I used to live on $75 per week and I know it can be done and you can make it work (oh, and gas was over $3.25 at the time)

ernest_t_bass;549183 wrote:My family spent $289.73 last month in gasoline. . . . I understand completely that, to many of you, that little bit extra is not that much, but to some people, it is. We don't expect you to empathize, but at least try to sympathize with some people who actually do struggle.

How did you manage to spend almost $300 on gas last month? Do you have a 100-mile commute every day or what? That's insane.

Mrs. FFT and I chose to live in a place that's close to public transportation, so I often take the bus (and took the train every day when I lived in Chicago). It's inconvenient, sure, but it saves a lot of money. We also chose to buy small, fuel-efficient vehicles, factoring the cost of gas into the total cost of ownership. Simple decisions and actions can pay huge dividends.

There are numerous actions people can take to reduce their fuel costs. Those actions involve trade-offs. I respect the right of people to make whatever trade-offs they want, but I'm not generally sympathetic to them when after-the-fact they bemoan their choice. It's like choosing Fleming's over Applebees and then complaining about the cost of your steak--make whatever decision you want, but don't complain if your decision has consequences.

Certainly there are some small minority of people who don't have these sort of options, but in general, I think most of the gasoline cost pain is self-inflicted.

LJ;549208 wrote:Because I used to live on $75 per week and I know it can be done and you can make it work (oh, and gas was over $3.25 at the time)

Did you have two children? Mortgage? Taking Masters? School Loans? What was your debt structure? Were you renting or were you a homeowner? Just saying you "made $75 per week" pulls no weight b/c there are too many other variables missing in comparison to my situation.

Not everyone in the country can live next to their place of work or has access to convenient public transportation. Just because some on here aren't effected by higher gas prices, good for you all but it DOES have an effect on the lower class and those who have tight budgets.

ernest_t_bass;549232 wrote:Did you have two children? Mortgage? Taking Masters? School Loans? What was your debt structure? Were you renting or were you a homeowner? Just saying you "made $75 per week" pulls no weight b/c there are too many other variables missing in comparison to my situation.

$75 is what I had to spend on food, gas and incidentals.

fan_from_texas;549222 wrote:How did you manage to spend almost $300 on gas last month? Do you have a 100-mile commute every day or what? That's insane.

Mrs. FFT and I chose to live in a place that's close to public transportation, so I often take the bus (and took the train every day when I lived in Chicago). It's inconvenient, sure, but it saves a lot of money. We also chose to buy small, fuel-efficient vehicles, factoring the cost of gas into the total cost of ownership. Simple decisions and actions can pay huge dividends.

There are numerous actions people can take to reduce their fuel costs. Those actions involve trade-offs. I respect the right of people to make whatever trade-offs they want, but I'm not generally sympathetic to them when after-the-fact they bemoan their choice. It's like choosing Fleming's over Applebees and then complaining about the cost of your steak--make whatever decision you want, but don't complain if your decision has consequences.

Certainly there are some small minority of people who don't have these sort of options, but in general, I think most of the gasoline cost pain is self-inflicted.

I don't need an arm chair psychologist. My wife took a pay cut a few years back to accept a job that was two minutes from home. She filled the car up once every two weeks (at most), and we only had one (young) child. While my wife was pregnant with our second child, the business where she works now moved 40 miles away, into Indiana, because of better tax structure, and it made more sense for the business. She didn't get a pay raise, but added 76 miles to her daily commute.

Not everyone is the same, I wish people would get that. Just because you could live off of $75/week doesn't mean anything.

tk421;549233 wrote:Not everyone in the country can live next to their place of work or has access to convenient public transportation.

Everyone can take steps to mitigate their exposure to volatile fuel prices. We don't "have access" to convenient public transportation. We intentionally took significant steps to obtain access (and that includes Mrs. FFT waking up early and driving me 7 mins. to the nearest bus stop).

Nobody forces anyone to live/work somewhere or drive a particular vehicle. They're all trade-offs. Some people want to live in the bigger house, or in the country, or near family, or without a roommate, or whatever else. They get the benefit of that bargain, and I think it's only fair that they get the costs, too. That's how being a grown-up works.

tk421;549239 wrote:Not everyone is the same, I wish people would get that. Just because you could live off of $75/week doesn't mean anything.

Yes it does. It means that some people are better at budgeting than others and don't have much sympathy for those who can't and refuse to seek help in that budgeting

LJ;549235 wrote:$75 is what I had to spend on food, gas and incidentals.

What was your total income? Expenses?

LJ;549253 wrote:Yes it does. It means that some people are better at budgeting than others and don't have much sympathy for those who can't and refuse to seek help in that budgeting

No, it doesn't. Your situation isn't the same as others. There are too many variables.