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Archive through March 15, 2004

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions: 2004 May - July: Gasoline prices: Archive through March 15, 2004 users admin

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Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Monday, March 01, 2004 - 9:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
An average of $2.19 a gallon here. Loverly. This was on today's news: San Diego Has Highest Gas Prices In U.S..

Yeah, it's a lot like paradise here. Till you fill up your gas tank! <grin>

Teachmichigan
Member

07-22-2001

Monday, March 01, 2004 - 10:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I was feeling bummed about the $1.76 our gas jumped to yesterday until I came here. Now I'm glad I don't live in CA! LOL

However, in MI...by SUV is a necessity. Had a lovely little Saturn that ran great and had pretty good gas mileage...and also got stuck 3 times in one NOT VERY BAD winter! This winter...I'd have been in trouble numerous times! I only work 1 1/2 miles away but DS's school is 6 miles (schools of choice, so I take him) and I literally couldn't get him there w/o my SUV on many days.

That said...we only do grocery shopping once a week (it's 40 miles one way to the "good" stores / Sam's Club, etc.) so we plan ahead. I usually don't have to fill up more than once a week, so that's as much as I can conserve at the moment.

Yup....I'm still glad I don't live in CA! :-)

Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Friday, March 05, 2004 - 9:08 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I filled up my tank yesterday and paid $2.20/gal. And oh, yeah, prices are gonna get even higher!

I'm really glad I'm working so close to home. Unless I do a *lot* of driving, I only have to fill up once a month. And yes, I drive a fairly economical car (the super sporty Saturn SC-2).

Then again, a commercial that's been running lately for a local newscast is a kick. It shows a picture of our beach, and folks lounging in the sunshine. Next shot is of a blizzard somewhere. Next shot is a lifeguard vehicle cruising along the beach in the sunshine. Next shot is someone trying to walk in the snow on a New York City street. You get the picture! <grin> (We're expecting temps of 80 degrees in our inland valleys this weekend!!! <grinning, running, ducking!>

Halfunit
Member

09-02-2001

Friday, March 05, 2004 - 9:10 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
$1.79 (87 octane) in East Central Ohio

Earthmother
Member

07-14-2002

Friday, March 05, 2004 - 9:19 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We just got word this morning that regular un-leaded is now $2.20 per gallon in California. Apparently we lead the nation in high gas prices. I just think that the poor person who is trying to stay off welfare and working a minimum wage job is paying 1/3 of their hourly wage for one gallon of gas.

Unfortunately if you want to buy a home in California you have to commute, because you can't afford to buy in the cities anymore. It's a catch 22. Soon it will be no real problem here because only the super rich will be able to afford to live here anyway and when one Mercedes runs out of gas they can just use the other one. At least their car registrations will be cheap..

Wargod
Member

07-16-2001

Friday, March 05, 2004 - 9:57 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I'm afraid to go get gas. I drive a 77 Lincoln Continental, talk about a gas guzzler! My car only moves if I have no other choice, so I can usually go 2-3 weeks between filling it up. It's always cost a fortune to fill up though.

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Friday, March 05, 2004 - 10:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
right, earthmother. my husband commutes the 192 miles each day so we can have a house. if we still lived near his job, we would not even be able to afford rent, let along try and buy a home. our house even 50 miles closer to my husband's job would have been half a million 15 years ago, and probably 750,000 or more now. in san jose or sunnyvale, it would be even higher, probably a million dollars.
there are only minimum wage jobs in our town, however, so there are 7,000 people who commute to silicon valley for wages to pay for our homes.
it's not just the fuel to get over the hill and back each day, either. my husband is on his 3rd vehicle--he has put on about 700,000 miles since 1989, just in commute miles.
still, when we left san jose, we were paying 1,800 month in rent and our house payment, insurance and taxes don't total 1,800 month where we live now.
we have bought diesels when we can, but california is not going to sell diesel cars after this year; they will sell only trucks that are diesel.
hubby would like to retire in another 2 or 3 years. hopefully his job and his vehicle will run that long!
he tried to take the bus from gilroy, so he would only have to drive the first 45 miles, but he has to be at work by 6:00 and the week after he started taking the bus, the busline changed their hours for the route he was on--and the earliest he could get to work would have been 6:30.
he did commute for a while with a gal from his same building, but they moved to colorado. also, it was a pain. she was never on time, he had to loan her gas money on the days SHE drove, she smoked, she wanted to stick around work for a half hour after they got off so she could see her husband when he came in for his hours, etc. it was more trouble than what it was worth.
before that, the two of them shared with a couple where the man worked with my husband and the other gal, but the wife was a teacher in milpitas. my husband said they took the longest way home, going back to milpitas after the wife picked them all up. also neither of the married couple bathed very often and my husband said the final straw for him was when the gal would take off her shoes and put her nyloned feet on the dash, where the heater air would spread her dirty feet smell all through the car! :-)

Pcakes2
Member

08-29-2001

Monday, March 08, 2004 - 8:18 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I got gas in Marin County yesterday and paid $2.35 a gallon! This is getting ridiculous!

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Monday, March 08, 2004 - 8:34 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We're still holding at $1.73 for about a week or two now.

Konamouse
Member

07-16-2001

Monday, March 08, 2004 - 1:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I can't believe that California has higher prices than Hawaii (Big Island, Kona Coast).

For regular/unleaded, $2.29 9/10. Up to $2.34 9/10 for the plus. I didn't even bother looking at premium (we don't put premium into a rental car).

However, Costco has unleaded at $1.99 9/10 right now.

'squeek'

Ddr
Member

08-19-2001

Monday, March 08, 2004 - 1:40 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Filled up today in Louisiana. It was $1.65 a gallon for 87 octane.

And for comparison on housing in California, I bought a 2800 square foot building for $50,000 three years ago. Renovated it but it was still under $100,000 total cost.

Tess
Member

04-13-2001

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 2:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
$1.66 here in Bloomington, MN for 87 octane at BP.

Babyruth
Member

07-19-2001

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 9:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
$1.69 in SE Michigan for 87 octane at BP.

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 9:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ddr, the house my husband has to commute so far from to get to his job cost us 145k 15 years ago. it is worth about 300k now, but closer to his work it would probably cost us a million dollars...
but someone who works in this isolated town, unless they own a grocery store or are a doctor or attorney, makes minimum wage and can't even afford a home HERE!
our house is nice, but not huge. it has an indoor bbq and hardwood floors, but other than that, it's a basic 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths. no back yard to speak of; a large front yard because we sit kitty corner on a corner lot.
the fuel prices and commute are a trade-off for being able to buy a home.
i am glad we don't still live where we did in san jose. when we go by where we used to rent, all the homes now have bars on the windows and the yards look like the one on 'malcolm in the middle', and there are cars up on blocks, etc.

i do okay where we live now, even though i hate the small town politics and the weather (over 100 most of the summer), because i am able to think of this as 'the place i stay when i'm not on vacation' :-)


Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 10:06 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
i paid $2.07 yesterday at the cheapest place in town.

Urgrace
Member

08-19-2000

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 6:23 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Our gasoline prices in south central Texas have been inching up 2 cents or sometimes 3 weekly since it was 1.41 9/10 and is 1.59 9/10 today. Tuesday is usually the day it rises, so tomorrow I expect it to be 1.61 9/10. That's for unleaded at a Shamrock and our grocery store, the least expensive in town. The nearby towns are within one or two cents of our prices most of the time.

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 7:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
i have not seen 1.61 in my area of california for at least 2 years. you don't know how lucky you are elsewhere!
i remember a couple of years ago paying 1.89 and a friend in texas mentioned how high it was there "1.35" and i almost cried. i would love to see 1.35...i'd have to go back about 10 years for that, i think!
when we first bought a diesel bug, exactly 5 years ago, diesel was 99 cents a gallon; now it's as high as the 87 octane. thank heaven we get double the mileage for diesel!

Cathie
Member

08-16-2000

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 11:24 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We reached $1.50 today, up from $1.48 at my last fill-up. Want me to send you some, Tabby??? (feeling really guilty 'cause I think I'm the friend who made you almost cry two years ago...) :-(

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 11:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
yep, you are the friend who almost made me cry over gas prices and DID make me cry when you had to fly home from our visit :-)

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Monday, March 15, 2004 - 12:51 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We hit $1.73 on Feb. 27 and the price hasn't gone again up...yet. I keep waiting and expecting it too- this seems like a pretty long time with no change.

Tabbyking
Member

03-11-2002

Monday, March 15, 2004 - 12:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
our cheapest gas (87) is 2.09 this morning. diesel is 2.00 even...

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Monday, March 15, 2004 - 12:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Our diesel is $1.69. Does anyone else have Kwik Trips around? I don't know how large of a chain it is, but their mid-grade is always the same price as their "cheap" gas. I think it's because the mid-grade there actually isn't true mid-grade but really you're choosing between the gas with or without the ethanol blend (which, when they made that the mandatory gas in the Milwaukee area, I remember people driving 20 miles to get gas that wasn't blended).

Egbok
Member

07-13-2000

Monday, March 15, 2004 - 1:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I filled up my EggieMobil and had to pay $2.15/gallon for Regular Unleaded (87)...<sigh>

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Monday, March 15, 2004 - 1:30 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Well, I posted over in N&V that oil has reached $37 a barrel today. Next thing we know it will be $40 and we will be up the river without a hybrid.

Max
Member

08-12-2000

Monday, March 15, 2004 - 1:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I filled up the PT Cruiser with premium yesterday. Albertson's was running a "sale" for $1.89 a gallon (regular price $1.97). Ugh!