Is anyone else excited that gas prices have dropped tremendously over the past few weeks? Where I live gas is about $1.50 cheaper a gallon than it was two months ago.
My question to you is, what are you planning on doing with your new gas savings? As I thought about this over the weekend two ideas came to mind.
First, I am no expert, but I am willing to bet that gas prices will rise again. You could take the money you are not spending now and start saving it to help pay for gas when the price rises again. Kind of like a Christmas account… but not as fun!
My second thought was to use this opportunity to stock your pantry. When gas was over $4 a gallon I only shopped at the commissary (which is a mile away). It wasn’t worth it to drive my suburban across town to get a good deal on a few items at a different store. Now that gas is under $3 a gallon it might be worth it to start checking the ads and stocking up on some staples if I can find a great deal. I have been reading a lot lately on stocking your pantry and I hope to build mine up this winter.
Has the price of gas been a factor in your life? Do you plan to change anything now that it is a bit cheaper? I would love to hear your opinions!
Visit Mary for more tightwad tips.
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Our gas budget never officially increased…we just forced ourselves to cut back in other areas, so I’m looking forward to NOT having to be so extra frugal! I just saw gas under $3 at our station and was almost giddy. How pathetic is that?
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I am very excited about gas prices. Today next to my house (here in Massachusetts ) gas is $2.56!! I can’t believe it is almost $2.50!! I would LOVE to see it drop below the $2.50 mark. I figured out, the difference between filling my van in July and now is a difference of over $31! Unbelievable. I am, of course, skeptical that prices will not stay this way for long. I am looking into getting a wooden pantry for my kitchen area because I would like to stock up for the winter. During the summer it was alright to go grocery shopping weekly, but in the winter I prefer to go every other week because of the cold and snow. Hubby can stop on his way home from work if I need something extra (he’s good like that : )
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Ooh, I’m so jealous! Gas here just dropped under $4. It was $3.99 last week still UGH…hopefully the drops will hit here soon. (an island by Seattle)
-Laura
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I have always kept at least a 6 months basic staple food supply for meager times. If I ever have a house and more storage (i.e. when military career is over?), this will increase to a year’s supply. I store enough wheat, oats, dried apples, dried carrots, dried beans, powdered milk, canned fruits and vegetables, spices, oil, canned chicken, frozen meat to feed my family of five (almost six) for at least six months. Most of these staples I dry pack in #10 cans and purchase the food through my church’s (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) food storage program. I also store a 2 week supply of water for each member of my family.
I only do a major grocery shopping trip every 2-3 weeks around payday, and I plan my meals two weeks in advance so I know exactly what I will need. In between these shopping trips, I only have to get fresh produce and milk, etc. When there have been unexpected expenses, we have been able to go for a whole month without really grocery shopping (except milk and cheese). It has been wonderful. I highly encourage building up your food supply. Even just buying a few extra cans of something when you make a purchase really adds up in the long run.
P.S. All the food that I store, I use in my cooking. That way it stays rotated, and I just stock up when I find good deals on things.
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Here is a link to my church’s Provident living website…. http://www.providentliving.org/
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I am hoping that I can finally afford to fill both cars up at the same time!
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Yes, maybe now we can afford to fill the oil tank so we can turn on the heat.
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Wow I wish we could say that we could use the cash for something else. We were actually limiting where we could go and often had to opt out of going places. We live on a fixed income. So when prices soar we cut back our activities and make every trip count. Now that prices are lower we will enjoy not being so tight!
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I have definitely seen the decrease in gas has helped the checkbook look not so slim. LOL! I’m still doing what we normally do – making do and a huge shopping trip at one time. When I came home last night from Bible study, the gas was $2.29. We are currently saving for our road trip at CHRISTmas to the East coast.
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I am pretty much with Tina and Katie, I just cut back on going. But, I am going to try to take $10 a week and stock up on food. I feel an urgency to do this in my spirit. I have to start slowly because of our extremely tight budget, but the gas prices going down hopefully will help.
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We are going to save the money for a rainy day now…or maybe a vacation. In 2007 we were expecting a third child and needed to buy a car with room for 3 car seats. Since my husband is opposed to minivans, we purchased a Toyota Sequoia. Oh, the irony as I had just quit my job to be a SAHM and gas prices soared just after that! We certainly have learned to live on less and make fewer trips. By the way- we lost our entire freezer stockpile (about $1000 plus worth of meat, chicken, seafood, etc.) during the power outage following Hurricane Ike. Sigh…
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I just made a very similiar comment to my hubby! We stocked up this last weekend on our pantry. I only have to replenish the small things like eggs and milk!!! Gotta love that!!
Thanks for shaing,
Robyn
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sonoranstamper/607840/
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Well, up here in Canada and also more so in BC. We are in one of the most expensive areas for gas so we are use to making the MOST we can for our gas. We lump as much as we can in a “town trip”. My hubby has been the grocery shopper after work now for a LONG time. Thank goodness he is a smart grocery shopper. PTL . So for us we have to be gas smart all the time. [0= But your idea on stocking up the pantry is a GREAT idea. It is so nice not to worry about always going to the store. Makes it nice when the snow is blowing hard outside. [0;
Blessings and ((HUGS)) my SSiC
In Him<
-Mary@ Raising 4 Godly Men
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It does help us… with gas prices the way they are right now and with my hubby driving everyday now. It helps b/c work is still slow but now there is less money going towards gas.
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I already try to keep a fairly stocked panty – not to the extent of some of the above bloggers. However we are using every extra penny to get out of debt. Our goal it to be out of debt in one year – so the extra we don’t spend on gas is heading that way!! Strangely I was almost excited about filling up my vehicle today with gas at 2.69 – It’s easy to get acclimated to the prices, 2 -3 years ago I would have been horrified at that price
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I am not going to change anything bc everything else is still so expensive. But I am so excited that gas by my house is $2.46!!!
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