Gas Prices Explode Across Nation (POLL)

on May 4, 2011 at 2:10 PM

gas prices top $4 a gallon

Gas station

As someone who just spent $50 filling up my tank with $4.55/gallon gas, these gas increases we're facing are putting a serious dent in my family's budget. Throwing $100 at our cars every week is so not cool. And even though this is Los Angeles, the rest of you around the USA will soon be feeling more pain at the pump as well.

Apparently gas prices should hit $4 a gallon all over the country any day now. Does anyone else feel like these increases are unbelievably arbitrary? That comes out to about an extra $5 to $12 per fill-up depending on what your previous gas rate was in your neighborhood. For us, we just went up about $8 from what we'd been spending, so an extra $16 a week has got to be found somewhere.

A few options that would work, but I totally don't love:

Brown bagging the lunch two extra times per week.

Taking the bus or walking when it doesn't involve kid travel. (Have you ever been on the bus in LA? Didn't think so.)

No more lunch and ice cream adventure when I pick up my daughter early on Fridays. (Boo!)

Pretend I was drinking four lattes per week, and now I won't be!

While these options don't actually hurt -- they just make me a little sad -- some people don't have these luxuries at all and are hurting by the inevitable summer gas gouge. Cutting out lattes isn't the answer here, and it's going to be much harder to make ends meet when you have to fill up your car once a week. Anyone have any good ideas to stretch that weekly fill-up, besides buying a Prius?

Exactly how much are you spending at the pump, America? Gas watch '11 is on!

Image via Marcin Wichery/Flickr

About the author April Peveteaux

writes about anything that gets stuck in her craw. A mom of two in Los Angeles, she can't believe she practically lives in the country now after attempting to raise kids in Brooklyn.

Filed Under: automotive, home finances, newsworthy

Comments (38)

madfoot

on May 4, 2011 at 2:11 PM

Haha, I love "pretend I was drinking four lattes a week!"

Report this comment

Nonmember comment from Cynthia

on May 4, 2011 at 2:20 PM

I live in Alberta, Canada and our gas is about 1.29/L which works out to about 5.15/US gallon. Some simple things you can do to save on gas is to walk wherever possible, and obviously drive a more economical vehicle, but simply planning errands better and planning your weekly meals to make 1 trip to the grocery store can make a huge difference! When you plan and buy for the week, you make less trips and do less impulse buying so you save there, plus you save not driving to the store so much. We seem to live in a time where anytime people "need" something they just run out and buy it. How much of what we "need" do we really need and right at that moment?

Createchoas

on May 4, 2011 at 2:21 PM

$4.90/g and I live in Alberta where we have soo so much oil.

micheledo

on May 4, 2011 at 2:31 PM

Aaaaa. Don't buy coffee - make a pot at home. Brown bag hubby's lunch EVERY day. Don't go out to eat or stop for ice cream. I grocery shop once every four weeks now since we don't live near a grocery store. A more economical vehicle isn't really possible. Figure in the cost and what we pay now - paying for gas is cheaper by FAR!!! We are tightening down even more in order to keep up with gas prices and the soon rising food prices. Fun fun! :D

BobbieKay29

on May 4, 2011 at 2:56 PM

We are sitting at $4.29 in my hometown. Me & the hub has started riding together a few days a week even though I have to wait for him to get off work, we hardly eat out anymore, plus we brown bag everyday except the splurge on the occasional Friday. We are sorely tempted to trade my gas-guzzler in for something better but I love my car.

lalasmama2007

on May 4, 2011 at 3:04 PM

It's $3.99-$4.16 a gallon depending on which gas station you go to.

Bethsunshine

on May 4, 2011 at 3:17 PM

It is $3.99 here in Southwestern PA. This is ridiculous. My husband HAS to drive to work, and since he works midnight shift, public transportation is not an option, and there is no one he can carpool with. He doesn't eat lunch on midnight shift, just snacks. He is actually looking for a moped or something like that which will be dirt cheap on gas.

We put our deposit down for our vacation back in January ( non-refundable BTW) and I can't even begin to imagine how much it is going to cost for us to drive there in July. If we didn't already put our deposit down, I would consider canceling it.

We homeschool, so I don't have to drive the kids back and forth to school, so that is a plus.

happymom1988

on May 4, 2011 at 3:54 PM

im a sahm to my 20 month old son , and was looking forward to this summer taking him to the playgrounds and out as often because im currently pregnant and wanted to be able to enjoy him all by myself before the baby arrives , but now ill just have to have him play outside the pat or walk on the complex next to us ! rrrr ... i wanted to have some variation but with the gas prices and the food prices skyrocketing thats something rather impossible to do ...... not to mentioned that the parks are 15 mins close , so we are close but still

gas price 3.75

also , i wont be going to garage sales and only food shopping once a week or once every two weks , depending of how fast we empty the fridge

and when we go to the stores we only browse and buy what is neccesary .. which means most of teh time , is just browsing .....

and we have switch from diapers pampers to parents' choice . they work as well as pampers and so much more affordable

navyma23

on May 4, 2011 at 4:05 PM

We coupon for groceries, hubby takes left overs to work, we make the kids' lunches for school, and try not to spend too much on extra stuff. I spent $65 to fill up my tank today, my husband spent $48 to fill up his tank. Unfortunately we live too far from his work so he commutes 60 miles a day. Its awful. I paid $3.89 today, and hubs paid $4.13. Not cool.

Facebook comment from Ashley Castillo

on May 4, 2011 at 4:29 PM

bethsunshine scooters get overlooked I think alot. I don't own one,but ive seen a lot more in the past few months.

IDK....I'm moving in with three other ladies so I'm hoping a lot of carpooling is in my future. And of course, I might brave the Texas heat and still go places on my bike.