How do CALIFORNIANS COPE WITH HIGH GAS PRICES

[killer2021]

Originally Posted by shannon94

More like an extra 20 (or more) every time you fill up!! Not everyone drives a mini cooper. (I guess it depends though what price your comparing it to...last month or last year)

Well maybe you should sell your gas guzzling SUV and buy a mini cooper and stop complaining!

[itlchick]

We are buying bikes but I still have to drive to work. Errr....

[18Montclair]

I bought a Prius and now the Navigator, BMW and Mercedes rarely move. LOL

[shannon94]

Originally Posted by killer2021

Well maybe you should sell your gas guzzling SUV and buy a mini cooper and stop complaining!

Ha!! I wouldn't be caught dead driving an SUV!! I drive 7 miles to work...husband works from home....gas prices aren't an issue for us.......I feel for OTHER people though who have to commute etc....don't feel sorry for the gas guzzlers though!

Grocery prices have really gotten out of hand though!

[SandyCo]

I'm twelve miles from work, which is a definite plus. I also bought a Toyota Corolla several years ago which is now paid for, and it only has 74,000 miles on it. I can go for about a week and a half without filling up the tank, and it's only a ten gallon tank. I paid $39 to fill up a couple of days ago. Something tells me it's only going to get worse before it gets better.

This is an interesting article in National Geographic from June, 2004, titled appropriately enough "The End of Cheap Oil":

End of Cheap Oil @ National Geographic Magazine

[Huckleberry3911948]

long commutes are out, move or change jobs. get a smaller vehicle.
public transport is toooooooooooo slow. reduce run around batch errands
so forth. the minimum wage job on the other side of the county. forget it.

[Lionhearted]

Californians ignore the price of gas. I was walking by a Starbucks, and I saw 5 automobiles waiting in line. 4 of them were SUV's. Not only were they wasting gas, but they were also pushing poison into the air. By the way, I was walking to the bus stop.

[Armagnac]

Originally Posted by OREGONRAIN

Have people had to make decisions of what they will do as prices keep skyrocketing, especially where so many in California drive many miles to work and activities daily.

Just pay for it. How big is the difference?

I just got back from Minnesota (where I used to live). I filled up the rental car on Friday in Bloomington (biggest suburb in the Twin Cities), $3.60/gallon. Today I paid $3.79/gallon in Fontana. The difference is $0.19/gallon. Let's say my wife and I buy 2000 gallons of gas a year (we don't, but let's make it a high estimate). That's an extra $380/year, or $32/month.

But also consider, my wife and I make more here than we did back in Minnesota. And the difference is considerably more than $32/month. My wife's an elementary school teacher - the average wages for an elementary school teacher is $57k/year; in Minnesota it's $46k/year (a difference of $11k/year). Now, she just got her degree a year and a half ago, so she did not see a wage increase of $11k when we moved a year ago. But she did see a wage increase that is a good fraction of that. I saw a nice increase in my wage as well.

Even without the increase, coping with a $32/month difference in price is hardly insurmountable. Our lives are filled with movies and pizzas, evenings out for dinner and trips to the zoo, CDs and DVDs and all sorts of things we just don't really need.

There would be all sorts of ways to make up that difference but, as I pointed out, we don't have to do so.

[Kingsnkali]

Used giant SUV and monster pickup truck prices are dropping like a rock. Worth very little at trade in. Some dealers are refusing to take them back with car/truck lots crammed with big Detroit iron as far as the eye can see.

Sell them for scrap iron or maybe just park them and live in them. Could be affordable housing for the next decade.