Has the price of gasoline affected how much you drive?

15 years ago

When the price rose to $4/gallon ++ over the summer, the country as a whole cut down on their driving. Vacations were canceled or modified. Activities which required driving were curtailed. Now that the price has come back down, people seem to be going back to their old habits and gasoline consumtion is back on the rise.

Personally, my driving habits didn't change a bit. I live pretty close to work so I don't use all that much gas day to day anyway. But I didn't skip any optional activities or change any habits to save gas either. I live in Houston which is very spread out and it's not out of the ordinary to drive 45 min or more to get somewhere.

I'm fortunate to be able to say that gasoline (and air conditioning!) are things I will pay whatever price I have to for!

So... did you drive less this summer? And are you starting to drive more now?

Here is a link that might be useful: As Gas Prices Go Down, Driving Goes Up

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Comments (15)

teresa_nc7
15 years ago
A most definite YES here! Fortunately I am only 2 miles from my office, but I do drive home for lunch most days - so that is whoppin' 8 miles a day. And, fortunately, there is a large grocery store within sight of my office so I can stop there when needed to pick up supplies. But I have missed out on activities I wanted to do that were in Greensboro (25 miles west) or people that I wanted to see (also in Greensboro) and I have taken my parents on fewer drives and outings due to the high cost of gas. :o(

The good side of this: you can usually save money if you stay at home. yipee.....
dgkritch
15 years ago
Yes. But, I started before the prices went way up.
My DH and I carpool to work (20 miles, one way). We picked up a part time carpool person too.
Partly due to prices, partly becaue it makes sense for our future. We conserve in a lot of other ways too.
We recycle paper, cardboard, metal, glass, plastic, etc.
We don't make extra trips to town on the weekend unless absolutely necessary.
We don't leave lights on in rooms we aren't using.
We replaced regular light bulbs with CFL's a few years ago and are now considering LED lights.
We don't waste food.
We rarely eat out.
We grow much of our own food. The rest we buy as local as possible.
We shop for many clothing items at Thrift stores (nearly new GAP jeans for $6.00, yeah, that makes sense).
We use re-usable bags/boxes containers wherever possible.
We try to recycle/re-use building materials.

It's just a lifestyle choice for us. Simple, self-sustaining, low impact as much as possible.

I'm not ready to give up my indoor toilet, car, or electricity just yet, but only because I still have to work outside the home until we get the danged mortgage paid off! LOL We can survive a long time at home.

Deanna
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centralcacyclist
15 years ago
Yes indeed. I drive far less and plan my trips out and about. I used to think nothing of a jaunt into San Francisco for the day. I haven't been there is months.
dedtired
15 years ago
When the price of gas was super high, I was more careful about doing more errands on one trip. I was also careful about going to the cheapest station-- well, I still am.

I can't say that my driving has changed. I have to get to work and back. Honestly, I cut back more in other areas, like food (groceries and eating out).

The one thing that has changed is going back to considering a mid-size car rather than a very compact one. I was going to get a Honda Civic (I still may) but now I am also thinking about an Accord, Nissan Altima or Mazda 6.

Seems like the price of gas is going to go up and down rather than up and up.
Terri_PacNW
15 years ago
No other than I only have to fill up 2x a month with 2 trips off Island..oh and being back to stay at home mom..with only 2 trips a week to the school and no sports right this moment..I'm happy..
hubby filled up his Jetta lastnight..for about $38..boy was I happy..it was getting bad when that little car with the great gas mileage was costing nearly $45 to fill. 2x a week, because of commuting! The money I was saving by staying at home was paying for his commute.
lindac
15 years ago
Definitly yes....I am a bit of a shop-a-holic....and when there was nothing on, I would think nothing of driving 45 miles to my favorite mall, just to browse. I quit that!!! I figured it was costing me nearly $20 in gas just to get somewhere to look at something I didn't need!!
I am trying to shop when I need several things and not as amusement.
Thinking back to when a trip to Chicago cost about $40 in gas....not even worth thinking about....and last summer it was in the neighborhood of $100, just for gas.
Linda C
nan_nc
15 years ago
Yes, my habits have changed. Used to think nothing of driving to town for a single item (12 miles round trip) and now I store up items I need and make a mental "loop map" which makes the trip the most efficient. Now I only have to fill up once a month or so. But I get REALLY bored staying at home so much!
partst
15 years ago
Yes I changed my shopping habits I stopped shopping at our only chain grocery store, VonÂs, here in the valley. It is a 32 mile round trip and I was always finding they were out of what I wanted or didnÂt have it in the first place. I started going down the canyon to Bakersfield every other week. ItÂs a 120 mile round trip but I can go to Trader JoeÂs and the big grocery store I shop at down there saves me more than enough to make the gas price worth the trip.

Up her red peppers 2 for $5.00 down there .39 cents each, Mushroom here $5.79 a pound there $2.79 a pound and much fresher. Everything is almost a third to half less so I make a day of it and do all my shopping in one trip. I keep a plug in ice chest in my car so I can make several stops. I really canÂt buy frozen foods in the summer but I can in the winter.

I canÂt say I am really saving money if I stop at Costco or Tuesdays Mornings and find something I didnÂt know I needed. The only down side is my father lives on that side of the lake so I havenÂt been seeing him as much I would like to but I still talk to him every day.

Claudia
annie1992
15 years ago
I quit driving to work when gas hit $3 a gallon. I live half a mile from work and I walk every day, sometimes I even walk home at lunchtime and walk back. I am just a little further away from the grocery store and church, so I walk everywhere. I drive the Jeep only when I'm going to the farm and I try to pick up anything I can't get here in town by driving the extra 5 miles to Big Rapids when I go to the farm. I drive less than 50 miles a week that way, and when I need more groceries than I can carry I have a wagon!

Like Deanna, I recycle every darned thing that can be recycled, Elery replaced all my bulbs with florescent bulbs, my thermostat never goes above 50F. Ever. The cost of natural gas for heating and our electricity costs have been rising as fast as gasoline, so I cut those way back too.

It does help that I grow nearly everything I eat except fresh fruit in the winter and dairy products. Amanda mentioned today, though, that the grocery store prices had gone down a little since the gas prices have dropped.

Fortunately, I hate to shop, except at places like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods and I have to drive 4 hours to get to either of those!

Annie
caliloo
15 years ago
No - no change here. I fill up the Durango about once a month, and though I grumbled non-stop when it cost over $100 to fill it, I didn't change my driving habits at all. I rarely go further than a few miles anyway, the grocery, dry cleaner, bank etc are all in the same block, so I just hit them all when I am there. SChool is the only other place I drive on a regular basis, and it is only about 4 miles from home, so it isn't that big a deal.
bri29
15 years ago
I didn't really change my driving habits much, but I downsized my car a LOT when gas prices started going up. I had a full size Bronco for ten years, but when a fillup cost $100 I decided that I could put that money into a car payment. I got a Passat, which uses less than half the gas of the Bronco, and still has the required back seat for the dog. I still probably drive more than I should, but work is almost 10 miles away and the cheaper grocery store is about 8 miles away. I figure I save an average of $20 each week going to this grocery store, so a dollar or so to get there is reasonable to me.

I do try to consolidate my trips, shop only once a week and don't really make many big trips. I did that before gas prices went through the roof though. It's also a personal challenge for me to figure out the shortest best route between stores, but maybe I'm just a wacko! :)

Bri
jcrowley99
15 years ago
Well, I never drove at all before June because I did not have a license! Then having found the ability to go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted for the first time in 40 years, I was not about to let the price of gas stop me from going where I wanted! On the other hand, instead of shopping at the Jewel or Meijer that are close to my house, I can take off early Sunday mornings and run to Angelo Caputo's or Garden Fresh Market while my husband is still asleep so I have saved way more money on groceries than I spent on gas. Lunch meat alone is less than half the price of Jewel at these stores, and fruits and veggies are extremely cheap. I just picked up yellow and orange peppers for 49 cents a lb, red peppers for 59 cents a lb, and onions for 33 cents a lb. I slice or chop them and freeze them in vacuum bags to use as needed. The savings are incredible. It is an extra 10 mile round trip to these stores, but since I get over 20 mpg with my Honda C-RV, That's only $2 in gas when it was at $4 a gallon. I saved $30 on my grocery bill last week, well worth $2 in gas! I was complaining to my husband this morning that I thought my gas mileage had gone down since it cooled off so when I filled my tank I asked him to figure the gas mileage for me (we use on of our trip monitors in the car to track how far we go on each fill up) and I got 21.5 mpg on this tank. Not bad for a small SUV and the fill up only cost $23 dollars today gas was down so much! Yeah! I do put on 24 miles 2 or 3 times a week for a round trip to hike at the Morton Arboretum (my hubby got me a membership for sweetest day) but I figure that is cheaper than joining a gym! (and my hubby figures it's cheaper than if I go to the mall, hahaha!) I've had the pass for two weeks now and lost two lbs already! Yeah!!!!

Joanne
centralcacyclist
15 years ago
I saw gas for 2.29 today about 40 miles south of where I live and right on the expressway, too. I was shocked. Here in town I paid 2.69 at the cheapest station in town. Why the big difference just a few miles away?

I have an 18 gallon tank on my Volvo so it's never a cheap fill-up.
bunnyman
15 years ago
I've had six days off work in the last three months. Not much time to worry about driving. I often drive around at 45-50mph to keep my mileage up. A little over 20mpg from my truck without the 4 wheel drive locked in. About 14 with 4 wheel but much cheaper then getting stuck or missing work. Often drive an extra 16 miles to go home and get a shower before heading back to the bar. Drinking at the bar is such a huge waste of money that I forget about the gas.

: )
lyra
canarybird01
15 years ago
Nope and as a matter of fact I never even look at the price of gas as I fill up the tank about three times a year. I try to walk as much as I can everywhere except when making large shopping trips and when I have to go to the big city on the other side of the island I take the express bus because parking there is nearly impossible.

I have a Renault Megane 5 door hatchback sedan which is an average size car over here, but is considered a compact size in N.America.
I don't even know how many kms to the liter...or miles per gallon....that I get out of it but I know if I were working and driving a long distance every day I would certainly have it figured out.

Gasoline prices here in the islands today, converting liters and Euros to gallons and dollars works out that a gallon costs US $3.60 which is cheaper than on mainland Spain since the Canaries have lower prices to compensate for their distance from the mainland.

My little car is still like new after 8 years.

I know that when my friend Anne returns from England for her winter stay here, we will be driving around a lot again on our island explorations looking for new and interesting places to photograph and have lunch. :-)

SharonCb

Has the price of gasoline affected how much you drive?

Comments (15)

teresa_nc7

dgkritch

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