How do you cope with the price of gas? I'm fortunate to live in a neighborhood where I can walk most places I want to go. I drive to work, and places beyond walking distance. Still the gas price increasing impacts how far I might go that I don't have to. Here is what I do to help me stay within a budget for gas in my automobile.
First, there is a Kroger not too far from my apartment that has a gas station. So I can combine shopping for food with filling up the gas tank. Plus with a Kroger shopping card, I get .03cents a gallon off. Plus if I have enough points, I can get .10 cents a gallon off. Kroger tries to compete with Sam's club on their gas price. So planning when to buy gas helps.
Second, I completely filled my tank and don't let it go much below a half a tank before adding fuel. This allows me to spend what I budget and no more. Where ever that amount of money puts the needle is the gas I have to use. This allows me to keep a reserve amount in the tank for extra travel I might need for on call etc. When I use more fuel then I expect, I try to refuel when I can maximize the discount. This has worked for me in the past, and I hope it will continue. Of course if I had the money etc, I could convert my car to natural gas, which I hope in future will become a more viable solution. I heard a news report that a converted engine which can run on either natural gas or oil gas can get as much or more than 80 miles to the gallon. So why not promote it and lessen our dependence on the middle east?
So how do you cope with the price of gas?
