Antiochus Epiphanes
August 22nd, 2005, 12:28 PM
story on yahoo about gas prices forcing people to find ways to save. your comments?
Gas prices bring on new ways to cut corners By Julie Schmit and Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Mon Aug 22, 7:10 AM ET
As she folds clothes at a Laundromat near her home in San Pablo, Calif., Thamara Morales, 30, counts up the ways high gas prices have changed her life.
There are no more pizza outings on Friday nights. "It's cheaper to cook at home," says the $12-an-hour clerical worker and mother of two.
Her 6-year-old daughter, Audreanna, isn't going to the local theme park on weekends. "Last summer, she had a season pass," says Morales, who lives with her boyfriend.
Trips to Wal-Mart are out. The closest one is about 15 miles away. Just to get there and back costs more than she might save by going.
"I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese's," says Audreanna, bored after several hours at the coin-operated laundry on her mom's day off.
"It's too far," Morales says. The nearest one, in Hayward, is 27 miles. They go to McDonald's instead, just outside the laundry's doors.
For more affluent Americans, gas at almost $3 a gallon provides ample fodder for griping, perhaps regret at having bought a gas-guzzling SUV and low-level anxiety as tank fill-ups cross the $50 mark. But for the most part, the higher costs get absorbed by the monthly budget with little attention to how much they add up.
It's a different story for consumers on tight budgets, or those with long commutes. High gas prices are forcing changes in their lifestyles and buying habits.
Morales has even considered finding a new job. She drives 30 miles, one way, to her current job and works four days a week.
She also needs to drive to drop her kids off at day care and pick them up again. She estimates she spends at least $60 a week on gas for her 1994 Nissan Altima.
Morales and a cousin who lives next door are saving gas money by working together to cut trips. Maria Puicon, 28, a single mother of three, works in the office of a local hospital. If one of them is out, that one checks with the other to see if she needs anything.
They also gather at home on Friday nights instead of going out, and their kids play in the backyard.
"We cannot go anywhere because of the gas," Puicon says.
'I'm going to survive'
Diane Kirk, 62, has little choice about how much she drives.
She has two doctor appointments a week to get shots to treat her rheumatoid arthritis, and she cannot miss them. The office is 14 miles from her home in Gorin, Mo.
Kirk lives on a fixed income of $650 a month, plus food stamps. The former food and beverage manager for a major hotel chain hasn't worked since 1993 because of a disabling back injury.
Her income doesn't leave room for extras. Her house payment runs $210; utilities about the same. Medical bills average $40 a month.
Kirk, who drives a 1988 Chrysler New Yorker, estimates she spends about $35 a week for gas. She has had to compensate in little ways.
Instead of buying her favorite detergent, Tide, she buys cheaper brands. Instead of buying refined cleaning products, she goes with straight ammonia. She's cut down on ice cream and soft drinks. And when she makes her monthly trek to a bigger town 50 miles away for a medical appointment, she buys enough milk for the month because it's cheaper there.
Kirk doesn't fret, she just adjusts.
"I'm going to survive no matter what," she says. "I've learned to scrimp and save."
She's not alone. In 2002, the average low-income American spent about $750, or 8% of his or her annual $9,000 income, on gas. In 2005, gas will eat up about $1,000, or 11% of that person's yearly income, says Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America.
"That's a tremendous impact on those folks," Cooper says, noting that the average American spends 4.2% of annual income on gas.
The gas crisis is also tough on people who use their cars to earn a living. Nancy Jackson, 26, of Des Moines is a delivery driver for a local Home Team Pizza. She relies on an hourly wage, tips and a per-pizza delivery fee that the owner gives her. That used to be 65 cents for each pizza delivered. Because of soaring gas prices, the owner last week raised it to $1 per delivery.
The single mother recently bought a 1996 Chevrolet Blazer, which gets 15 miles to the gallon. She pays for her own gas, and it has been rough. One recent month, she received $400 in tips. Of that, $300 was funneled back into gasoline - and that was before this summer's price run-up.
Some customers have mentioned the rising gas prices to her. "Some people are mindful of it and tip generously," she says.
Jerry Nelson, 46, of Greenfield, Iowa, is a truck driver for G & H Motor Freight Lines who doesn't pay for the vehicle's gas. Yet he still worries about the impact of the price squeeze on his employer.
"That hurts the company, and that might hurt me from getting a raise," he says.
Challenges for the disabled
For the disabled, coping with rising gas prices is a bigger hurdle. Anne Kinkella of Alexandria, Va., spends $55 a week on gas for her 2002 Rodeo Sport, a sport-utility vehicle "that just sucks up the gas" but can accommodate her scooter.
"I can't hop on a bus, and I can't carpool - how am I going to get my scooter into somebody else's car?" says Kinkella, who travels 30 miles to and from her job as an industrial specialist for the Army.
Kinkella, already burdened by extra expenses such as paying helpers to buy groceries or make household repairs, has stopped making monthly deposits to her savings. She has virtually scrapped one of her favorite pastimes - trips to Washington Nationals baseball games. "It's just really hitting me this summer," she says.
Gas prices cut into the vacation time this summer for Joe Skaggs and his wife, Angela - and they were on a Harley-Davidson. The California couple last year hit the road for 27 days, sticking to a budget of $100 a day. This year, they cut the trip to 14 days because their gas costs went from $25 to $40 a day.
"The hotel stayed the same. The food stayed the same," says Joe, 36, a retired construction worker.
Gas prices bring on new ways to cut corners By Julie Schmit and Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Mon Aug 22, 7:10 AM ET
As she folds clothes at a Laundromat near her home in San Pablo, Calif., Thamara Morales, 30, counts up the ways high gas prices have changed her life.
There are no more pizza outings on Friday nights. "It's cheaper to cook at home," says the $12-an-hour clerical worker and mother of two.
Her 6-year-old daughter, Audreanna, isn't going to the local theme park on weekends. "Last summer, she had a season pass," says Morales, who lives with her boyfriend.
Trips to Wal-Mart are out. The closest one is about 15 miles away. Just to get there and back costs more than she might save by going.
"I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese's," says Audreanna, bored after several hours at the coin-operated laundry on her mom's day off.
"It's too far," Morales says. The nearest one, in Hayward, is 27 miles. They go to McDonald's instead, just outside the laundry's doors.
For more affluent Americans, gas at almost $3 a gallon provides ample fodder for griping, perhaps regret at having bought a gas-guzzling SUV and low-level anxiety as tank fill-ups cross the $50 mark. But for the most part, the higher costs get absorbed by the monthly budget with little attention to how much they add up.
It's a different story for consumers on tight budgets, or those with long commutes. High gas prices are forcing changes in their lifestyles and buying habits.
Morales has even considered finding a new job. She drives 30 miles, one way, to her current job and works four days a week.
She also needs to drive to drop her kids off at day care and pick them up again. She estimates she spends at least $60 a week on gas for her 1994 Nissan Altima.
Morales and a cousin who lives next door are saving gas money by working together to cut trips. Maria Puicon, 28, a single mother of three, works in the office of a local hospital. If one of them is out, that one checks with the other to see if she needs anything.
They also gather at home on Friday nights instead of going out, and their kids play in the backyard.
"We cannot go anywhere because of the gas," Puicon says.
'I'm going to survive'
Diane Kirk, 62, has little choice about how much she drives.
She has two doctor appointments a week to get shots to treat her rheumatoid arthritis, and she cannot miss them. The office is 14 miles from her home in Gorin, Mo.
Kirk lives on a fixed income of $650 a month, plus food stamps. The former food and beverage manager for a major hotel chain hasn't worked since 1993 because of a disabling back injury.
Her income doesn't leave room for extras. Her house payment runs $210; utilities about the same. Medical bills average $40 a month.
Kirk, who drives a 1988 Chrysler New Yorker, estimates she spends about $35 a week for gas. She has had to compensate in little ways.
Instead of buying her favorite detergent, Tide, she buys cheaper brands. Instead of buying refined cleaning products, she goes with straight ammonia. She's cut down on ice cream and soft drinks. And when she makes her monthly trek to a bigger town 50 miles away for a medical appointment, she buys enough milk for the month because it's cheaper there.
Kirk doesn't fret, she just adjusts.
"I'm going to survive no matter what," she says. "I've learned to scrimp and save."
She's not alone. In 2002, the average low-income American spent about $750, or 8% of his or her annual $9,000 income, on gas. In 2005, gas will eat up about $1,000, or 11% of that person's yearly income, says Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America.
"That's a tremendous impact on those folks," Cooper says, noting that the average American spends 4.2% of annual income on gas.
The gas crisis is also tough on people who use their cars to earn a living. Nancy Jackson, 26, of Des Moines is a delivery driver for a local Home Team Pizza. She relies on an hourly wage, tips and a per-pizza delivery fee that the owner gives her. That used to be 65 cents for each pizza delivered. Because of soaring gas prices, the owner last week raised it to $1 per delivery.
The single mother recently bought a 1996 Chevrolet Blazer, which gets 15 miles to the gallon. She pays for her own gas, and it has been rough. One recent month, she received $400 in tips. Of that, $300 was funneled back into gasoline - and that was before this summer's price run-up.
Some customers have mentioned the rising gas prices to her. "Some people are mindful of it and tip generously," she says.
Jerry Nelson, 46, of Greenfield, Iowa, is a truck driver for G & H Motor Freight Lines who doesn't pay for the vehicle's gas. Yet he still worries about the impact of the price squeeze on his employer.
"That hurts the company, and that might hurt me from getting a raise," he says.
Challenges for the disabled
For the disabled, coping with rising gas prices is a bigger hurdle. Anne Kinkella of Alexandria, Va., spends $55 a week on gas for her 2002 Rodeo Sport, a sport-utility vehicle "that just sucks up the gas" but can accommodate her scooter.
"I can't hop on a bus, and I can't carpool - how am I going to get my scooter into somebody else's car?" says Kinkella, who travels 30 miles to and from her job as an industrial specialist for the Army.
Kinkella, already burdened by extra expenses such as paying helpers to buy groceries or make household repairs, has stopped making monthly deposits to her savings. She has virtually scrapped one of her favorite pastimes - trips to Washington Nationals baseball games. "It's just really hitting me this summer," she says.
Gas prices cut into the vacation time this summer for Joe Skaggs and his wife, Angela - and they were on a Harley-Davidson. The California couple last year hit the road for 27 days, sticking to a budget of $100 a day. This year, they cut the trip to 14 days because their gas costs went from $25 to $40 a day.
"The hotel stayed the same. The food stayed the same," says Joe, 36, a retired construction worker.