So, what are you going to have to give up to pay for fuel?

[mrw]

I was listening to various news shows last night and all of them seem to be saying that fuel may hit $5. per gallon by summers end. We here at casa MRW, have oil heat so if these shenanigans continue into the fall, this will be impacting how we budget our $$$. for the coming year. Already, any sort of thought about an impulse purchase is automatically disregarded. I drive approx. 35,000 miles per year for business and pleasure. It will be almost imposable to cut that out. I'm driving a diesel VW so I can't get better mileage driving anything else. I usually night ski twice a week in the towering Poconos. I'm guessing that I'll have to cut that to once a week or even once every two weeks.
What will you have to eliminate to feed the oil industry this year? Every business in this country is going to suffer so these pigs can gorge themselves on profits.I am an independent insurance appraiser. If people drive less, there will be fewer collisions and I will make less money. What's your story?

[UNIBONGER]

i just bought some siphon pumps
theres enough yuppie republican suv drivin douches and 20 hours of darkness here in the winter
i should be able to put together quite a "FUEL RESERVE"
by the time next season rolls around,both my sleds will be fueled and you will be calling me "little exxon"

[bio-smear]

That's reminds me, I need to buy a locking gas cap. That is funny though.

i just bought some siphon pumps
theres enough yuppie republican suv drivin douches and 20 hours of darkness here in the winter
i should be able to put together quite a "FUEL RESERVE"
by the time next season rolls around,both my sleds will be fueled and you will be calling me "little exxon"

[funkendrenchman]

If you're planning a road trip this summer, check out this map. http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

[dirtybryan]

If you're planning a road trip this summer, check out this map. http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

I'm impressed that is extremely accurate around my area.

[uglymoney]

Good post, and I'm also curious as what everybody else cuts out of their budget. Obviously those with a large surplus are not going to do anything, it will just cut into their savings.

I'm not one to bash on the oil companies. Prove to me they are gouging and that this isn't a supply and demand crisis driving by an efficient market that foresees multiple problems on the horizon in conjuction with an ever expanding Asia and a United States that is too stuborn conserve even when it is in our best interest.

I already feel like I drive the most fuel efficient car that I can for what I use it for. I tow, and I ski, I need the space of a wagon, and I'm in situations all the time that really make the AWD handy on my 5 speed Outback. I also feel like my boat is as fuel efficient as possible with the latest direct injection technology. A second car is not practical unless gas prices were to double or triple.

So, aside from driving less (which is possible to an extent) and driving smarter which I naturally do when prices skyrocket (coast up to stopsigns etc), there is not much fuel I can cut out of my budget other than recreational boat/ski fuel. Its pretty cheap to run my boat as long as I stick to just skiing with friends who pay their share, and lay off the cruising around, so I'll cut out some joyriding.

Where I can save some money is at the pubs. A purely optional activity that is really something that I am better off not doing anyway. Normally, pub time is cut drastically whenever the budget demands.

Sorry Mr. Miller and Captain Morgan I have to lay you off in order to give my hard earned money to some of the worlds craziest dictators.

[Out_to_lunch]

I learned last week that my parents sold my car (its under their name, but my grandparents gave it to us for free so while it wasnt technically my car it was at the same time, and there is still a hole in my heart, her name was Lola, but enough of that), so I dont have to worry about gas! On the downside, I dont have a car...yet...damn...

[Tippster]

I will stop commuting in my car on rainy days (I ride my Motorcycle every other day) adn use Public Transport instead. We've also switched to buying wine that's less than $10/bottle from the $10-$15 range we were in. Sound stupid? When you average a bottle a night in consumption (between wife, myself, and various friends/neighbors who stop by) that adds up to a savings of roughly $35 a week.

Skiing locally is probably out for next year, since all disposable income will go for our trips out West. Hey - we paid for the condo so not using it would be stupid.

[funkendrenchman]

I wonder how much money this would actually save, but if you filled up at the end of every day, you would be putting in the most gas possible at the lowest price (assuming gas continues only going up).

[yogachik]

I just paid $4.05/gallon

I'm seriously considering buying a new car.

[mrw]

I wonder how much money this would actually save, but if you filled up at the end of every day, you would be putting in the most gas possible at the lowest price (assuming gas continues only going up).

I do that.Or if I pass some place that is cheaper that usual I fill up

[schindlerpiste]

Imports
678

[Aldo]

I guess I'll give up smoking.

[Snowy Wintergarden]

....

I'm not one to bash on the oil companies. Prove to me they are gouging and that this isn't a supply and demand crisis driving by an efficient market that foresees multiple problems on the horizon in conjuction with an ever expanding Asia and a United States that is too stuborn conserve even when it is in our best interest.

....I'll cut out some joyriding.

Where I can save some money is at the pubs. A purely optional activity that is really something that I am better off not doing anyway. Normally, pub time is cut drastically whenever the budget demands.

Sorry Mr. Miller and Captain Morgan I have to lay you off in order to give my hard earned money to some of the worlds craziest dictators.

You have an interesting view of things.
Exxon, for example, is raking in record profits, and Lee Raymond, the retiring CEO just got a

$$$ Four Hundred Million Dollar $$$

retirement package.
And not a cent fof their profit comes from gouging, though .

Lee Raymond says:
"Dear Uglymoney,
You cut back on the pub activities, that's a boy! And keep defending the oil companies - drive an F350 all over the country to spread the word. Go get 'em, tiger cub!"

[UNIBONGER]

i would also reccomend as a form of silent protest that we all grow "SUPPLEMENTAL CROPS" for "SUBSISTANCE LIFESTYLE"
use the $$$$ from your crop to help you live the dream

[acostiga]

i'm more afraid of the changes that will be imposed upon me rather than anything i might choose to do or not do... at my place of employment we're struggling to get more than a .5% increase in pay, which is pretty damn pathetic if you ask me. that fat fuck from exxon got something like over 100k in severance for each DAY he worked for the company. looks way to similar to that character in the movies that eats until he explodes, eh?

[UNIBONGER]

like larry the cable guy says.......GIT R DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[upallnight]

Me + the lady each drive rigs that are >10 years old, meaning we have no car payments but do spend more in maintenance than a new vehicle.

I wonder at what point a 10, 15, 20 (?!) MPG improvement would make it worthwhile for us to take on a new car payment (at current & projects fuel price increases). May have to hit the spreadsheets.

[Steven S. Dallas]

I'm going to have to give up showering in gasoline. Or at least stop using the high octane stuff.

[ski_trader]

Hedge by buying some oil stocks.

[fondigley]

I aint trying to give up shit. But if I must it would be eating out. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to rob a bank, or at least bully the boss into a raise or just find a better paying job. Something. Hell I am struggling right now to pay for gas. $50 to fill the truck up and if I head up into the mountains, that is a tank right there. This sucks. I guess more bike commuting is in order.


Edit: Hell I'd even join the Unibonger in his exploits.

[uglymoney]

Snowy Wintergarden,

So you piss and moan about the salary of the Exxon CEO just like I do? Great! Its ridiculous, I agree.

How about the CEO of ADM, the CEO of Maytag that ran our Iowa company into the ground, sold it to Whirlpool and was given a 10 million dollar retirement package. The rest of the employees are going to be given pink slips. Read the employees that made the product. The CEO of HP that was giving a huge severance package after she nearly destroyed the company. I could go on and on.

Yes, I am pissed about the Exxon CEO robbing money from his stockholders, as should be all of his employees, stockholders, even consumers and citizens to a degree. But consumers cannot blame his salary on the price of oil. Exxon is selling its oil at market value.

Simple economics. Prove to my ass that Exxon is gouging, and I will sit humbly in my corner. Every single time that the government launches an investigation into price gouging, it results in a dead end.

The government (state, local, federal) launch investigations every time the price of oil goes jumps, yet they inevitably come up with NOTHING! This must be the most investigated industry on the face of the planet. Look at GWB today, clamoring that any gougers will be prosecuted. Still waiting? Its politics, not reality.

Enron, I'm convinced was gouging. Bastards! Exxon, is selling its product at market value.

Convince me otherwise. Please. I'm real good at bashing crooked bastards, and I would love to blame $3 gas on the oil companies. Right now though, its easier for me to blame big white SUV driving mama's with nothing more than an infant in the back, its easy to blame China, its easy to blame our lack of a clear energy policy that would lower our demand, thus the price.

I'm a realist I guess. Show me the data, convince me that these record and insane profits are something more than market forces pricing a limited resource higher in a natural bid to match production to consumption.

BTW, I drive a 4 cylinder.

Edit for the following suggestion.

The oil companies are making plenty of money. Nobody denies that. So we could try price controls to keep their profits down. We artificially price gasoline below its market value, and consumers are happy! Exxon makes less money, and we all have money to buy big trucks, go to the lake, and buy quality rum to drink on the beach after we go to the lake in our truck and drive to the beach in our boat.

The problem is that with demand so close to supply, and nothing too slow down demand, and no incentive for the oil companies to increase supply, we would have widespread shortages, and we would have to ration gasoline. So rather than go to the lake to drink rum, we might have to stay home and listen to Jimmy Buffet singing about cheeseburgers in paradise unless we have a friend that could hook us up with some fuel to get us the hell out of Dodge City.

So we have a choice. Pay more for gas, make responsible individual choices on how to use the gas we purchase, or let the government control who gets how much fuel via ration cards or widespread fuel shortages.

Alas, I am off to the lake Later.

[Judge Smails]

Judging by the gas prices map, the most effective thing I could do to conserve would be to move from Tahoe to Jackson. I think the only place in the country with more expensive gas than Tahoe is Mammoth. But, since I'm not going to move to Jackson, I'll make damn sure that I find another house to live in in Squaw. Truckee and Tahoe City are deffinately out of the question.

Living in Tahoe, one would think you'd get used to all the huge SUV's that drive up from the bay every weekend, but you don't. When I first moved here from rural Vermont I couldn't believe it. A family of three driving an H2 or an Escalade. Are you kidding me? My favorite are the ones that have the California environmental license plates on them. Talk about an oxy moron.

When I first became aware of what was happening in the energy sector I went out and did a little research. I then immediatly invested in Oil and Energy. You might say that I'm not being a socially concious investor and you're probably right, but honestly these investments are how I'm coping with the astronomical price of gas. I take some relief albeit very, very little knowing that every time I go to the pump and pay 15 cents a gallon more than I did the last time, that I'm actually coming out on top. Belive me, I would much rather see the price of gas go back below $2/gal. so I can afford to drive back home to my beloved Vermont, but for now I'm stuck in Tahoe with 700" winters and I'm doing my best to cope with it.

Looks like I won't be getting a snowmobile next year. I'm going to have to keep getting up at 4am and skinning for hours in the dark to beat the sled necks to the goods.

[funkendrenchman]

At this second I am applying for a job in the mountains, so I don't have to make the $30+ drive every week. Not counting on it, but it's a chance.

[pointedem]

gouging, perhaps,

but exxon posted RECORD PROFIT last quarter
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11098458/

that is, by far, the most frustrating part.

say what you will

but

our lovely president is an oil man, among other things

please- nobody here try to tell me there is not some behind-the-scenes bullshit ( the kind noone will ever know about) going on with regards to our govt and big oil.