Thursday, July 10, 2008

The State of Things...

Status: Mortified. Gas is $4.25 a gallon, here! WTH???

I seriously used an entire quarter tank of gas yesterday, driving the kids to all their lessons and sports, and running errands. It was CRAZY.
I am reading about people who abandon their houses and go live in their cars. I'm also reading about people who don't travel much anymore because driving costs as much as flying.
Well, that's not true. Because the airlines have decided to nickel and dime us to death on our luggage. DON'T get me started on the luggage charges. When you have a family of six and you have eight pieces of luggage, and they want to charge you $15-25 for EACH PIECE, EACH WAY, you're looking at double the fare, people.
Sad times, sad times.
I honestly can't think of one funny thing to write about today. Sorry, folks.

7 comments:

wfbdoglover said...

funny how the price of oil goes up and that day, the cost of gas goes up. Now drop the cost of a barrel of oil, and the cost of gas goes up even higher!

Anonymous said...

I nearly have cardiac arrest when I have to run errands. When the needle dips (after I just spent $100 to fill the darn tank) I want to weep. I told my husband we better get the pool done soon because I want to STOP GOING PLACES.

My husband pointed out an article that showed the UK has gas at $10 US per gallon. And I said, "Yeah, but they all drive TINY cars and have PUBLIC transportation. Our suburb doesn't even have a BUS!"

But it's still cheaper than buying something new, even if it does get better fuel economy. The way I drive now (now that there isn't the huge daily trip to gymnastic), it would take over 5 years for a hybrid to pay for itself (because I'd have to get one of the "big" hybrids so we all fit comfortably and the boys didn't put blood on the upholstery on car trips longer than three minutes).

Anonymous said...

Our transit system has become a lot more popular due to the gas issues here too. You can tell who's a bus newbie because they look around and make eye contact with only the "sane" looking people and stay as close to the bus driver as possible while trying desperately hard not to touch anything, including their seats. It's a fun to watch because even though you get a few crazies on the bus, it's clean, air conditioned and very efficient, not to mention it helps keep me on track with it's scheduling.

And then there's the fact that I work in a luggage store. Don't worry though, some people really don't care about how much the luggage cost, I had a gal come in the other day that waved her hand in my face and scoffed when I warned her about the 50 lb. limit. She bought a 28" suitcase (the biggest we carry) and promptly got into her bright yellow Hummer.

Yeah..ignorance is bliss.

And I do get the occasional rant about AFA regulations..yay. :(

-Sis

Lowa said...

Wow, it's only $4.25 over there?? That is a STEAL! It is more here. Not sure of the exact price, depends on the place you go of course. Around $4.60 something, though.

I am trying to make a schedule planned around getting out and getting everything done that I can ONE DAY a week and staying in the rest of the week. This is just NUTS!

Anonymous said...

We're at the point where $4.25 is a bargain, unfortunately.

I hear you -- I'm not flying within the country anymore, unless it's coast-to-coast.

Michelle Miles said...

I paid $3.93 this morning for regular, but premiuma and diesel are over $4.00. I'm scared to think this is the way it's going to be. Period. And gas prices will NEVER go down. I put in $46 in my fuel-efficient car this morning - and I stopped at 11 gallons. Sad. So sad.

We don't have public transportation. Oh, I mean, we do. But you have to live in certain areas to take the train or a bus. The train goes downtown, where I work, but I'd still have to drive to the park and ride. Not to mention drive my child to/from school or activities or wahtever. It's insane. Last month, my fuel bill was $260 - that included a trip to East Texas to see my sister and that was ALL. The rest was to/from work/sitter.

I hate that our economy seems to be tanking and no one in our Congress is taking note of it. Bush is waving good-bye as he leaves office and our two new candidates have said NOTHING about how they intend to repair the damage left by the high gas prices and the housing industry bottoming out. And they still want to send more troops to Afganistan? Are they insane?

Yes. It's a major sore point for me. I'm at the point now where I'm struggling EVERY single month just to make it on the paltry salary I make. And when I say paltry it's turned that with with the increase of the cost of living. I used to make decent money, but I don't anymore. And, quite frankly, it ticks me off.

Okay. Rant over. I promise. hahah

Lara said...

Mik, a LOT of people are in the same boat. They USED to make a decent salary, but now with all the hight costs, they are struggling. It's unfair, and it's wrong.