With gas prices at or above $3.00 per gallon across the US, CNN/Money is now reporting that gas prices may rise to $4.00 per gallon before it gets any better. This is hitting hard for far too many consumers.

Due to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of oil drilling structures in the Gulf of Mexico, oil supplies have been interrupted from those areas. The hurricane’s fury hit gas prices immediately. The gas station down the road from me went up $0.22 USD overnight.

So, what can you do about high gas prices? First, sell the damned SUV! I’m not kidding. You’re probably getting 11-14 miles per gallon in town and you probably have a 30 gallon tank. This means you can get 420 miles on one tank. But, you’re going to pay $90 for that tank of gas. I have a VW Jetta and I get about 24 miles to a gallon. So, for me to go 420 miles, it only takes 17.5 gallons of gas instead of 30. That’s about 42% less gas to get the same distance. It costs me $52.50 (@ $3/gallon) against your $90. If you fill up once per week, you’ll save about $150 per month. You could probably sell the SUV, buy a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry or similar model car for less than what you paid for the SUV, get the same end result (i.e. getting from point A to point B) and save yourself a few hundred dollars per month. (Which you could then apply to paying off credit card debt, investing or heck, just having a little extra for the rainy day fund thus putting some money into the economy and somewhere other than oil execs wallets.)

Now, I realize that I’ve probably just offended some of my SUV-driving readers. I can’t apologize for saying what I’ve said. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have said it. I’m just speaking from what seems to me to be perfectly common sense. I do understand that some occupations require having a truck or SUV and that there are situations in which this sort of vehicle is a necessary evil. If it’s safety, you’re concerned with, there are cars that are very well built and very safe to drive. Check Consumer Guide for a list of cars with high crash test ratings, low prices tags and better mileage than your Suburban (or similar vehicle of choice).

Back to the topic: Gas prices. Try to reduce the amount of driving you have to do. Stop at the store and get your grocery shopping done on the way home from work instead of as a separate trip. Try carpooling to work three or four days a week. If you live near grocery stores, restaurants and other establishments you visit regularly, consider buying a bicycle and riding it where you need to go. Walking is always an option, as well, and who knows, you might get healthier that way, too. Talk to your employer about the potential of working from home one or more days per week. (The worst they can say is “No”.)

Keep in mind that every mile you drive consumes gas. Every time you turn the car on, it consumes gas. Every time you consume gas, you consume money that you worked hard to earn. Sometimes you have to work just as hard to keep it.

If you want to know more about how gas prices work, check out this article on “How Stuff Works”: How Gas Prices Work

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 at 6:26 pm and is filed under General Personal Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.