What Are You Doing to Cut Your Fuel Costs?

Sitting around my house this morning and watching traffic back up, then move on, just to back up on the major road by my house yet again. I started to wonder what are people doing to conserve their money, their gas, and their sanity? From my observations the last several mornings I've pondered this more and more. If I had to guess, I would say because I've watched, overnight it seems gas prices go through the roof in my small part of the world.

Gas is now over three dollars a gallon in this small town, and diesel fuel is getting closer to three and half dollars a gallon. Along with those increases I've also noticed the price of kerosene is over three dollars a gallon as well. If you know anything about home heating oils then you know a lot of home furnaces run on diesel or kerosene which means heating our homes is getting much more expensive along with the expense that we are feeling when we fill up our automobile tanks.

What are you doing to help save your family money, gas, and your overall sanity? My husband and I are doing all we can not to go bust during this strange time in our world.

We've installed a wood burning stove in our home instead of using the furnace that runs off of, you guessed it, kerosene or diesel. Given we have to take the time to cut the logs and then split the wood, and then of course stack it on our deck in the dry. However, with the extra work we've made it a family time experience. My husband gets out with his trusty chainsaw, and cuts the larger logs into manageable sizes, and he and his muscles split the wood with an ax. The family time and experience comes in after the hard jobs are done. My husband, our two sons (they are 8 and almost 3) and myself all work together to load the freshly split wood on my husbands truck and we all share the job of stacking it on our deck. Now, I know your thinking what in the world is she thinking have her two kids do that type of work. Well, there are several reasons I have them help: 1. They learn responsibility 2. It is time together 3. They feel accomplished when they help us and keep wanting to do it even when the deck is stuffed with wood for burning. Also, my three year old throws more bark then he does split wood, but he has fun doing it, so I will let him feel as though he is helping in whatever way he can.

When it comes to gas for our vehicles that is of course more difficult. My husband has a monster diesel burning truck and I have a small compact AWD car. We fill my husbands truck up at least once a week, and do our best to make sure it lasts the whole week or longer. On my small car I may put half a tank of gas every week or two. It gets great mileage and usually I only drive it to run a couple of errands a week, and to take and pick our oldest son up at school. Even though we've cut our driving down a lot, it is still difficult in so many ways. Making lists to keep up with what I need when I do go out can be a bit unbearable. There are something's that just can't be remembered all of the time. What if I miscalculate how many diapers I need for a week? This is more difficult then you may think when your potty training and have a son who can't decide if he wants diapers or not. However, the lists do help on the running back and forth. Even if I am not writing down everything I can keep decent track in my head of what is needed. Another thing I've been doing to save on gas is buying enough groceries and household staples to last at least 2 weeks if not 3 weeks.

Some of these things may leave you wondering what in world is she talking about with sanity. A lot of people have said if they had to think about and plan the way we have been doing for awhile now that they would have no sanity left! The way I look at it if I can keep my family with a little extra cushion of money by making my lists, by switching to firewood, and by a little bit more planning then that has saved me quite a bit in sanity. People everywhere need to start planning ahead, get a carpool together and split the cost of gas each week. Make a list and plan a few weeks ahead for food. Consider an alternate to the high fuel costs for your home, and get the entire family involved. There are many ways to cut costs if you just take the time to do so.