related topic: with soaring gas prices what are you doing to conserve?

[pearcrazy]

This gas crisis actually came at a good time for us. My twins started kindergarten this week. That means that my husband no longer has to drop them off at his company daycare on the way to his office. He is an avid cyclist and this morning packed his packpack with his clothes and laptop and pedaled off to work. It''s about 8 miles each way. He made it in just under an hour. Even in a car with the traffic it takes 30 minutes some days. His workplace has a place for him to shower and change clothes. He''s also gotten some exercise to boot. Later on today I need to make a quick run into the grocery store for just a couple of items. I can hang the bag over my handlebars and pedal home just like I did when I was a kid and insure that I don''t make any impulse purchases since I won''t have room to take them home.

I''m trying to round up a couple of other neighbors without children to drop off at daycare, who would be interested in carpooling on days where he can''t ride his bike in.

Are any of you PS''ers finding ways to cut back?

 

[onedrop]

I have been driving a lot less these days. And I am not going to let my tank get past 1/2 full. I am a teleworker that must go into the office 1 a week, but co-workers that I live near who also telework have agreed to carpool. Teleworking definitely helps with the gas situation.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

My husband drives an F150 so we decided the best way we can cut back is by having him drive my car as frequently as possible rather than spend nearly twice the amount on gas for his truck. I'm making a conscious effort to run errands in a efficient manner, too.

I'm sort of looking at my life from an outsider's prospective and am trying to cut back in various areas, in addition to the car expenses, to conserve more. The house we bought is on a septic, so I'm already using less water (so our septic isn't overwhelmed) and attempting not to put single shirts in the wash on delictate (but am handwashing instead) and am taking shorter showers, etc.

 

[tawn]

We''ve been riding the motorcyle, which is about $12 to fill up vs. $75 for the truck! And, just plain staying home a lot more than usual!

 

[Diamonds4Me]

Us as well as a lot of our neighbors have all agreed to call each other if one of us will be running to the store. That way one person can get the things needed instead of everybody going out at once. Also, using a lot less water. Hand washing some items of clothes instead of running the machine so I won''t be tempted to use too much laundry detergent (which equals having to go less to the store to get more). I also take inventory before I head out. I had a very bad habit of just going and getting what I thought I needed because living two minutes away from the store it didn''t matter if I had to just run back out for a second. I know that''s bad and this has made me really think hard about it. No doing that any more!

 

[Kaleigh]

We have been cutting back as well. When I go out I do everything in one shot and make sure to take inventory so I don''t need to make extra trips to the store.

 

[icekid]

Well, bf has been working from home lately. And I can walk to school of the grocery store in 5 minutes (city livin'' hehe). So we really haven''t been driving much at all lately- thankfully! The prices definitely hurt.