Gas Prices - Iselin,NJ

I had to tell my daughter this morning that it is going to be too expensive for me to attend her last band concert for the year because its 150 miles away. :-(

I finally went back to the real world of working back in Sept. after being out of the work force since '05. I had to quit in Feb. because I was actually losing $.

It has made me even more disgusted with the schmuck in the White House who claims he is not able to do anything...boo hoo-"I'm (obama) pathetic".

We're paying $4/gallon or more. It's affected us in that, since I stay home with our son, we're actually staying home all week. I'm saving grocery shopping for once every two weeks or on weekend morning, husband is driving the more fuel efficient car to work during the week and the other is staying parked, so we only fill up one automobile. This way we're only filling up about every 8-10 days.

It definitely encourages a new sense of frugality.

This is the biggest reason that I do NOT believe our economy is in a rebound, and won't be for many years unless we make drastic changes.

I am more glad than ever that we homeschool and no longer have to drive 20-30 minutes to private school.

I'm scared for our nation. Our children are headed for disaster if we're not very careful with what we do going forward.

$78 dollars this morning to fill up the tank (@4.35 for regular unleaded). That's nothing, though... our property taxes are doubling. Our property taxes are ALREADY equaling 1/2 of our mortgage payment... now they're going to EQUAL our mortgage payment. <rolls eyes>. Yes, we will be appealing it. Our local area has gotten all hyped on Zillow. Then they average the neighborhood. Our house costs less than half of what the houses 1 street over cost. And water they're charging coming and going (some jerk who doesn't have to cut coupons to eat decided that "incentive" not to water your lawn would be to charge double so instead of $250 a mo like it's been for 2 years, it's $500 a month). My husband makes decent money, but 4/5ths of our income now goes to pay necessary bills (utilities, gas, water, oil), when the same income a year ago is was less than half of our income went to necessary bills.

Well, I didn't normally do tons of driving. I only work 8 miles from home. I have limited the kids on how many trips to "town" for activities/meetings I'll do and turned down certain activities and opted not to go to my grandnieces' birthday party in another state because it's just not financially feasible to buy any more gas. I'm not an endless pit of money, once I've used my half tank for the week, there isn't money left from my salary to just buy more.

I try to use coupons to off set the price of gas. It worked for a couple of weeks but I also don't want/need to store so much.

I try to plan better before leaving the house. Making most of my trips.

Leftovers are not for just for my lunch anymore. I usually "clean out" the frig on nights when everyone wants something different.

I'am still able to go where ever I need to just plan ahead but there is the occasional I need to go here then here then back clear across town.My groceries I will not let it effect them i'd rather fill up weekly than to go to just 1 store to buy the ridiculous priced fruit & veggies,sales i'll follow i'm out anyway I will go to the 3 main stores to shop for the lowest priced.For an example on savings I had a bill for $75.00 in groceries @ Dillons but with my savings card & coupons I only paid $45.69,we have to change our buying habits, what we eat,what drinks to by.I hope it calms down summer will be here soon & the cost to leave for vactaions is going to sky rocket to unaffordable

i about freaked when I didn't go get gas Tuesday so stopped on way home from work Wednesday and it had jumped $.15! YIKES! I'm not sure what I'll do. everything's going up - rent, daycare, food....everything except my pay!

We're on a very tight budget so we just don't drive unless it's to a doctors appointment (the kids pediatrician is in a town 8 miles away). We don't drive 2 hours to go to big box stores, we don't order anything offline, etc. So we walk everywhere. Or take our bikes. It's saved us a tremendous amount on gas money and we're all in great shape. Even my almost 5 yo rides her bike! I'm blessed to live in a community that loves bicyclists & pedestrians. Everything is within a 2 or 3 mile walk of my home which really isn't that far. I respect one of my friends a lot because she would bike to work every morning, rain or shine. She only put her bike away when the snow started flying. Remember that town I mentioned, 8 miles away? That's where she worked. So she had a 16+ mile round trip bike ride every day.

We just bought my husband a Prius, and are seriously thinking of getting another.
I drive a huge van and filled yesterday and at $85 I was still not full but the pump quit. :o(

I think before I drive, do all errands in one trip, starting with the furthest.
I make sure I shop the sales in the grocery stores. Meals out are far and
few between .

I have always been one to plan my outings accordingly. I drive 26 miles to the nearest Wal-mart and do all my shopping in that town...(groceries/Dollar General)

The gas prices here as of today are $3.89/gal. I remember when it was $1.09/gal.! Luckily I traded my minivan for a car last April. Up until last December I worked 40-48 miles from my house...one way. I was spending an average of $150/mo on gas alone. I took a job closer in January...but with less pay. I'd have to get a job that pays $17/hr to be able to afford daycare and gas because those jobs are 26-48 miles away from me.

Just this evening I was going to offer to take my son to the movies to meet his friends then I realized that if I took him there, I would not have enough gas to go where I needed to go on Monday.

I do my best to avoid driving anywhere I don't absolutely have to. Which is hard, because I have 2 kids who both do afterschool activities. I used to drive them to and from school every day, but in the last few months, we have put them on the afternoon school bus 4 days a week (one day I HAVE to pick up my son, because he gets allergy shots and the bus doesn't deliver him home until 5:05 pm. yes, you read that right. FIVE oh five PM).
If I could stomach it, I'd put them on the morning bus too, but that comes at 6:18 am. and school doesn't start for them until almost 2 hours later. That doesn't work for middle school kids who are hitting that "can't get up" stage.

I didn't go "home" for Easter this year. We stayed here. And we went to Disney (Orlando is closer than "home") for the kid's Spring Break, instead of "home" to see family and then on to the mountains like we have done before.
I now CRINGE when someone sends me an invitation to something on the weekend, when I otherwise can get by with driving very little.
We live 30 miles from my son's school and most of his school friends, etc. I am trying not to let it damage his social life, but, hey, with gas like this... there is only so much we can do.
My husband also has a long commute (55 miles one way), so we have been averaging spending in the neighborhood of $900/month on gas for the cars. I am OVER it.

It affects me when I fill up my tank and I think, uh wow this is more expensive than the last time I filled up.

Other than that, I have not changed much about my driving habits because outside of my commute to and from work I don't really drive all that much.

It is hard. I haven't raised rates for my in-home daycare since 2005. I just keep trying to change the way I buy things or take extra night and weekend kids to pay for it all.

I've been careful about the miles I drive anyway. I'm working on paying off my van. I recently came very close to purchasing a newer vehicle because I despise having to repair a vehicle. But I changed my mind and walked away when I didn't like the terms. I'm so GLAD I did not do that. I am 9 months from car payment freedom.

I have decided to bite the bullet and use the best and most expensive gas. I'm experimenting to see if it really does make my vehicle get better gas mileage and make it run better.

It's getting out of hand. Before you know it people aren't going to be able to afford to drive to work.

I choose to focus on other things. If I allow myself to get overwhelmed with the price of gas I would be restricting the things I do and how I live. Instead, I do things to bring in additional money. If my kids are in activities, I ride with other moms and we split the cost of the gas to the one vehicle. We drop our cars off at the school or field and pile in the one car. Everyone gives up $10-15 dollars and we get moving. We each take turns being the principle driver for the day and we fill the tank of the driver. I works out rather nicely.

As for groceries, there are a host of things we do. We are actually eating way more for much less. I even have friends where we buy cases of chicken, beef, etc. instead of buying packs. We then split the price of the case 3-4 ways. We each get so much more meat that way.

We will be having a small but bountiful garden in several different yards as well as potted herbs and veggies for those of us without a proper yard.

We are going to have the most tasty season ever. By doing these few things, we really don't give gas prices a second thought and we are grateful to God for giving us a different way of thinking and for his provision.

I try to keep my tank at half at all times. I fill it and when I see half I fill it again. I made a big mistake and let it go to almost empty a few weeks ago and it cost me $75 (Honda Pilot) I also try not to go out for lunch anymore, buy less now just to have gas money. I need to get my kids to school and me to work. ;(