Since alternative transportation was brought up a few posts ago, I'll comment on that.

I live in Torrance, which is a subburb of Los Angeles. We have many different busses to chose from including Metro, Gardena, Torrance, and some smaller city busses with local routes only. The problem with the busses here is the gangs on the bus lines. The kids like to intimidate other riders and make them feel extremely uncomfortable, especially when the route runs through 'unsavory' parts of the city. Do I want my kids to see the behavior of these other kids? No way. They are at an impressionable age and they don't need to be seeing this stuff.

Case in point. We have four train lines running through Los Angeles County. The kids have been wanting to ride on these trains for as long as they can remember, so a few weeks back an opportunity came up to do just that. We got on at the beginning of the green line, transferred onto the blue line until the end, and then transferred to the red line for a few stops and got off at Union Station. There was not a problem on that leg of the trip. The problem came on the way home when some kids got on the train and someone said out loud that the police were on the car ahead of us.... several of the kids moved and adjusted their waistbands, some pulling guns from the front and placing them in the back. Many of us saw this, but we kept quiet. Both my husband and I agreed that that was the last time we take public transportation unless we absolutely have to. So, gas pcrices may be high, but the cost of public transportation could be deadly. Ain't happening for me!

I live in Corona but my job takes me all over LA-makes me love my toyota and I never leave home without the AAA card-

I JUST GOT GAS TODAY IN NJ. I LIVE WHERE NY, NJ AND PA ALL COME TOGETHER AND I ALWAYS GET GAS IN NJ BECAUSE IT IS SO MUCH CHEAPER. IT WAS 2.52 A GALLON IN NJ AND IT WAS 2.70 IN PA. I WAS AFRAID TO LOOK AT THE MOBIL STATION IN NY BECAUSE IT WAS PROBABLY MORE THAN THE PA EXXON STATION! I HOPE IT GOES DOWN BEFORE LABOR DAY BECAUSE DH AND I AND SOME FRIENDS FROM THE FD ARE GOING TO VERMONT TO SEE LARRY THE CABLE GUY.

Debsuewoo,
I completely understand why you wouldn't take public transportation. About a month ago a little girl got shot on one of our buses here. There were a couple teens on the bus that were getting a bit loud and one of the other passengers asked them to keep their voices down. They pulled out a gun and shot the man and hit a 10 year old girl also. Sometimes having a car is the best thing!!!



Daniela

Public transportation is great if you can do it. I totally agree with the safety issue though. I've used public transportation in L.A. and it is a frightening experience. But public transportation is not always possible. How am I supposed to get threes small kids and a load of groceries home on a bus or even a bike?! (Now there's a site! HA!) And biking would be well over 5 miles one way. I can't wait til my husband is home and leave the kids with him, because he is military and often gone for weeks or months at a time. America is not set up like many other countries that walk much more. They often have meat markets, fruit stands, and bakeries every few blocks. America zones everything so that commercial is in one area and residential is in another.

Here gas is $2.30. A question for the Canadians and Australians about thier gas prices. Is that with or without the exchange rate into U.S. dollars? If it's without, it's still over $3 in U.S. money though (I think, I'm not current on the exact exchange rate right now.) Just wondering how that would translate into U.S. prices. If that's with it already in the exchange rate..OUCH!!!

I just filled up my car today and gas was $2.49 gl I live in Romance, Ark... Being a SAHM money is tight, like the old saying goes "Our budget is so tight it squeaks" that is us. Now I have to make sure I get everything I need while I'm out because gas is too expense to go back and forth to the store. We live in the country so the nearest store is like 20 miles away, so I could go thru a tank of gas rather quickly.

Gas in Metro atlanta GA is $2.60 a gal.

Well living in Houston, it seems like just about everyone is in the oil and gas business(one way or another). My husband and myself are in that business and since gas has been going higher and higher our place of employments have been busier and busier. My husband is working unlimited overtime because they have been so busy. Even though they aren't building new refineries they are putting the old rigs and such back into business, and that's were we come into play. I complain everytime I fill up then my husband reminds me of the overtime, and well it seems to ease the pain when I see his paycheck.
My daughter started driving a month ago and seems to be working just for insurance and gas money.

We had our weekly Fire Dept meeting tonight. Found out that our FD is over the allowance that we are able to spend each year on gas! All because of the gas prices for diesel.

The board members said that we might not be able to run all of our trucks when we have house fires. That they might limit the trucks we can use. Our FD covers a 180 mile radius & when we have a house fire we roll every truck we can because we use each truck to pump water being we're in the country. All our area is country.

This is going to hurt us bad because when we don't roll every fire truck then that means the insurance ratings for homes in our area will go up. Not good at all. I totally agree that high gas prices effect everything.

I have a family of 4. I usually spend around $200 every 2 wks on grocerys. In the past 2 months I'm spending way more. Prices have went up! OH, boy! We might need to go back to raising farm animals & growing gardens!! No joke~

i got gas this week and it was gasp...$2.65 a gallon, kansas city kansas. i am a stay at home mom, and those prices are hurting our one income family! we didnt go on vacation this year, because of gas prices. good thing i enjoy staying home playing in my cake decorating stuff and fondant, cant afford to go anywhere.
melody

Hi,

Well, there are about 4 liters to a gallon, and our gas/deisel is ranging from 1.04 to 1.14 Euros right now. The Euro and the Dollar in theory should be worth more or less the same, but the exchange rate favors the Euro right now (You need 1.20 to buy one Euro).

So here in Spain I guess we are in the four dollar range, like Canada, but not as bad off as Australia! I think their gas prices "take the Cake!"

Fortunately, though, I live in the center of town and never drive. I can walk nearly everywhere, or take the clean, frequent buses that don't have gun-weilding teenagers on them. Yikes.

Andrea

We are now paying 2.89 a gallon north of Chicago. I can't believe it.

dru

Crazy !!! I think were all felling the pinch in our wallet!!
My husband drives into Santa Fe daily and that is about 30 miles away from us and the Gas their is 2.69 for now anyways . We have to use two cars and thats about 40 each, when feeling up!!
So Ladys New Mexico is in the same boat

Oh man! diesel went up AGAIN! I've only been putting $10 or so in until I have to go school shopping where the fuel prices are less and I can fill up... I just paid $3.07 for diesel!! I took a look at the unleaded prices for you all, LOL, and they ranged from 2.93 to 3.25 for self serve, full serve being more of course. How horrible.

WOW.. I guess I should thank my lucky stars!!! I only paid $2.38 on the NJ Turnpike yesterday. In town the prices are more like $2.45 to $2.59 for regular gas.

I live in Maine and this morning I saw gas at $2.61 per gallon. Ever since I can remember, Maine has always had low gas prices compared to other states. The price of gas is ridiculous. I commute 2 hours a day and because of the area I live in, I drive an SUV w/ four wheel drive, which is a gas guzzler. Between the vehicle payment and cost of gas, it's almost not worth working! I guess I'll just have to start selling more cakes

One good thing - most of the cakes I do are for work, or for my husband's work - so at least I don't have to worry about fuel costs for delivering the cakes - we just take them with us!

i plan large meetings (estate planning law firm) and today i got a cancellation from someone for a Flagstaff seminar because gas is getting too expensive. i chuckled, then remembered this post. a co-worker told me it's supposed to be over $3/gallon up there! our cheapest gas here at costco is 2.59

fasten your seatbelts, ladies. Where I live in Denmark, Europe the gas price has just reached 5.95 a gallon. But I expect that other prices and incomes are higher too.

I started this post on the 16th & the gas here was $1.50 a gal. Today I had to fill up... It has already went up to $1.59.9!!!!!!!!!! Took $40 to fill up my minivan. I tell you this is getting crazy! I can't believe how fast it is going up too. WHY? It doesn't make sense! By the looks of it we will be at $3 a gal. by Labor Day. My hubby says just to get used to it. Well I also went grocery shopping & paid $236 for grocerys!! I got the normal stuff but I only got 1 pkg of hamburger meat & no other meat because I was stocked up already. If I would have needed more meat we would be broke. Higher gas, higher grocerys for sure!

[quote Higher gas, higher grocerys for sure![/quote]

But still the same pay!!!!!
Doens't make sense!!!

AShiana

SWEETART - in Australia our fuel is (where i live in Tasmania) $1.82 a litre, my husband roughly worked it out at about $6.00 a gallon Australian without the conversion. But what gets me and i am no expert on this matter so dont take my opinion as gospel, but why does everyone pay based on US a barrel, we have our own oil fields off Australia. I cant work that one out.

The U.S. dollar is the most universally accepted currency so the price is posted in that. So it's not really a US barrel, it's more of a Middle East barrel. We'd all be confused if they said the price in say Saudi or Iranian money. When the Saudi king died, prices went up. The price goes up out of fear, when there is change, and from suply and demand. Letely China and India have become huge gas importers. More people want what we only have a set amount of, so the highest bidder gets it and that drives the prices up. We (the world) currently only makes about 1 million barrels a day more than we use. (Sounds like a lot, but it's not considering how much is used daily.) So another fear factor is running short some day soon. If a refinery has a fire or a problem and partiacally shuts down, again fear and profit seekers strike and the price goes up. Even though one country has it's own oil fields, those fields are owned by private companies. Companies want to remain competetive and so sell for the prices on the global market to make the maximum profit. They feel that if your country wont pay those prices, they will ship it to one that will. Gas companies have also had record high profits this last year. Fear is not a tangible cost, so higher prices without higher cost does equal higher profits for the big guys. Unless more oil fields and refineries are opened the prices are not likely to ever go down much.

I'm in northern NJ and we pay about $2.49/gallon.
Actually, I just read that there was a radio show giving away free gas last night at a place about 45 minutes from me...people were lined up 3 hours prior to the start of the promotion!!!
They said last year the stunt cost them $2300...I'm sure this year will blow that out of the water!!!

Not to feel sorry for myself but I paid 2.79 a gallon today and I average 33,000 miles a year-

Thanx for that sweetart, for something that comes out of the ground we sure pay big time for it dont we.

I put gas yesterday and it was $2.57. Oh and I am in central Texas. We have to have a car cause it is too hot to walk anywhere.

Funny how gas can go up 25cents overnight-for that matter in an afternoon-but can only go down 1-2 cents at a time!! It is between $2.58 and $2.63 right now here--Eastern Kentucky-but as Labor Day approaches I expect it to be higher-my dh filled up the other day and it was $50-that will last about a week-I only put in $20 at a time because I know as soon as I fill up at the high it will go down some and it will certainly hurt my feelings!!

You are totally right Nanni!! I got gas on Thurs. It was $2.59.9. There was a man their changing prices while I was pumping gas. I thought it was fixing to go up higher. Fri I had to go out again & guess what??? The price was changed to $1.45!!! Talk about being upset!! So now it's down to $1.45... & I don't need gas now!! Go figure!

At over a dollar a gallon I would be more than upset!!! I do feel for you!!! I usually don't need it when it's lower either. DH has decided he will let his tank get to 1/2 tank then fill up-I will only put $20 at a time-something has got to give-imagine if we did our cakes that way!!! We would lose business big time!!