5 Ways To Cope With A $5 Gallon

The other day, we finally mustered up the guts to sit down to do the math and we figured out that in the midst of this crappy economy, we have to somehow earn an extra $5,000 a year just to drive our freaking car. It's totally crazy and there's no sign of it letting up any time soon. We'll leave it to the people in the Politics section to explain why this is happening and what the next president can do about it. In the meantime, we're here to help you find a way to avoid being in a constant state of anger and frustration about the gas situation. The silver lining is quite hidden, but we're gonna try to help you find it with these five ways to cope with gas that's $5 a gallon.

#1 - Eat an Ice Cream Cone

We are not promoting "emotional eating," but this is one of our favorite summer treats and it's super inexpensive. If you happen to live within walking distance of a Rite Aid, grab a friend and take a little stroll to get a $1.50 ice cream cone. If you feel like splurging, spend $2 and get two scoops. Rite Aid (previously known as Thrifty) has some of the best ice cream on the planet, and as an added bonus it has half the calories of Ben & Jerry's or Baskin Robbins. Now, this won't help fuel your car, but it will certainly help your sense of well-being, and that's exactly what were trying to do here. We discovered that it is physically impossible to be stressed out or mad while you're licking an ice cream cone, and this is a fantastic summer to do extra little things that don't require gasoline to be fun.

#2 - Skip the Gym

You can save money at the pump in two ways by walking or riding your bike to work, because you don't have to drive your car back and forth to work or to the gym. Do your best impression of an '80's businesswoman - put on your super white Reeboks and scrunch socks and throw your pumps in your bag. You'll save money, get in shape, and receive kudos for being all stylishly retro. If you live too far from your office to make this work, you can still save by skipping the gym to go for a hike or to run errands on foot. Walk to the post office and to the grocery store and to the dry cleaners and to the bank. All that stop-and-go traffic uses up the most gas, but you can get a better body and stop giving your hard earned cash to the oil companies all at the same time!

#3 - Go Nuts at the 99 Cent Store

As the price of gas continues to rise, it is causing the price of everything else to go up, too, but not at the 99 cent store, where prices have remained the same for years. Stop dropping $150 at every trip to Target and start shopping at the store where you can get thirty household items for $30! Bear in mind that these places can be a little dirty, many of the cans are suspiciously dented, and their garbage bags aren't quite as hefty as the Hefty ones, but you'll save so much money that we think it's even worth the gas to drive a few extra miles to one of these gems.

#4 - Stop Shopping Online

Yes, it saves you gas to sit at your computer and order groceries and shoes and lingerie to be delivered to your door, but all of this online shopping is actually contributing to the gas problem. Think about how far every package has to travel to get to you and all of the gas used by those planes and UPS trucks. This is drastically increasing the demand for gas. If you stop shopping online you'll help out the economy and save yourself loads of money on uncomfortable shoes, clothes you don't need, and bras that don't really fit right. You'll probably start doing better at your job, too, and become more likely to get a raise that will help you pay for enough gas to get to the mall.

# 5 - Buy Local Produce

This is similar to the online shopping thing. We are all so accustomed to being able to purchase mangos in Alaska during winter and sashimi in the summer in Arizona, but think about the cost of all those shipments. Even if you have to drive further to a Whole Foods to find local produce, you'll be using less gas than you would if you bought something that was shipped across continents to get on your plate. It is also supposedly also healthier to eat foods that you are genetically meant to digest during the current season, so enjoy being good to your body and the planet.

Comments

[lynninny]

Drilling more is like throwing a cup of water on a raging forest fire.

I almost cried when I filled up my husband's car last week. This is not going to go away, and we have made our own beds. We cannot rely on oil-based energy sources to power our transportation much longer. We cannot live far from our work places and drive in alone each day to commute, and we cannot consume petroleum like we have been. It is never going to go back to the way it was. Our leaders can help by requiring and rewarding the development of alternative energy sources, short commutes, and more efficient transportation. No company or interest is going to do anything about this until it is in their interest to do so. In the short term, we are all going to have to get by with using much less gas. I know, it sucks..I would love to drive a Prius, but they cost so much more than a non-hybrid car of similar model. We just bit the bullet and moved 1.5 miles from my workplace.

BTW, for more on the issue of local food, organic produce, and their effect on the economy and the environment, I highly recommend Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Really opened my eyes, and entertaining as well.

[frantaylor]

Skip the ice cream, either. When you buy ice cream, a pretty hefty portion of the purchase price goes to pay for the energy required to run the refrigeration equipment necessary. Dairy products must be kept under constant temperature control from the moment the milk leaves the cow until it is served.

Instead of ice cream, eat an apple. It's much better for you, and much less energy was consumed in producing and delivering it.

Also remember that just about everything at the 99 cent store is made in China from plastic of very questionable quality. That horrible chemical smell that hits you when you walk in the door is the dead giveaway. It's all junk that won't last long and will get thrown away toute suite, contributing toxic chemicals to the waste stream. You and the world are much better off if you buy quality items that last a lifetime.

All in all, Not a very well thought-out article.

[InformedSources]

Great, thoughtful post. Last sentence says it all.

[frantaylor]

#4 is COMPLETELY WRONG. The EXACT opposite is true.

UPS package cars (that's what they call the brown delivery vehicles) actually get very good mileage. I did consulting work for UPS a long time ago and got to ride with a driver as he made his rounds. I wore the brown uniform, but I had long hair so everyone knew that I was not a real UPS employee. He left with a full load, hundreds of packages, to deliver in the morning. By lunch the truck was empty. In the afternoon he went around again and filled up the truck. At the end of the day the back of the truck was filled again with hundreds of packages. His total mileage for the day was less than 50 miles. He burned about 3 gallons of gasoline. One can scarely imagine how many hundreds of miles his customers would have driven to pick up all of those packages. UPS has a lot of vehicles and they burn a lot of fuel, but they deliver a mind-numbing number of packages every day. They are keenly aware of their energy costs, and they work very hard to reduce them. They hire a lot of very smart people to figure out how to optimize their routes and their delivery schedules to minimize the amount of fuel they use.

[mindlessmissy]

6. Start Making love to your wife more and forget about the other woman ...

[InformedSources]

It's so true. I'm single, but I've got a girlfriend who lives 14 miles away. Only way to get there is by car or I suppose bicycle--but that would be a mighty ride, esp. at night. I usually make the round trip three to five times a week.

Now I'm thinking either move in together or find someone in my neighborhood. Either that, or become a monk. Being a monk would save energy, too! Okay, I'm a monk.

Oops--forget what I said about the monk. :-)

[matandch]

#6 Consider converting to becoming Amish! You can feed a horse for $40/month, even less in the summer as the horse doubles as your lawn mower, saving you even more gas money!

[Wilburrr]

$40 a month? Maybe 2 years ago! Today the price of feed -- alfalfa and bermuda grass -- triple that here in Phoenix.

[InformedSources]

Do they accept Jews?

[DrJimmy]

I just started riding my bike to take my daughter to school. She thinks it's so much fun and I get to save some money on gas. One day I got to school and one mother actually said to me ......that is so sad that you have to take your daughter to school on a bike......I laughed at her and said....."honey I probably make double of what your husband makes.....but thats not the point.....the point is that you should be riding a bike too.....not to save gas......but to drop 150 lbs........all the other dads were on the floor crying!!!!!!!

[PuffDragon]

Professor Michael Greenber: ENERGY FUTURES ARE NO LONGER REGULATED BY THE CFDC, due to a late-night revision of commodities regulation law in the Senate.

" . . . the energy sector now operates outside the confines (of regulation by) the CFDC"

Watch testimony by Professor Michael Greenberger, Director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at University of Maryland here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdtTGYQBMU

[AdobePhsyko]

This article reminded me of a funny story.
I was a Household Mover and was moving a family into a VERY fancy house in Palm Beach.
The house included an elevator that went up to the EXERCISE ROOM.
My first thought was : Why not get your exercise climbing the stairs ?

[Edward Current]

I am appalled that people have to be told to walk to the gym rather than drive to it.

Appalled.

[glitzqueen]

While I certainly favor patronizing farmers' markets and other local merchants (as opposed to the big box chains that have destroyed so many communities by relying on imports and exploiting their help), it would be wrongheaded to give up shopping online in many instances. Although the packages travel farther, they certainly aren't traveling alone -- as we'd be, by schlepping from shop to shop for hard-to-find items or bargains. And, as far as "dollar stores" are concerned, poor quality is never good value.

[loril]

HuffPost's Pick

I am sorry that the price of gas has now vindicated my decision to live in a less fashionable inner-ring suburb with sidewalks, public transportation and all necessities within walking distance. I wish this were not the case and that everyone who opted to live 20 miles out in exurban sprawl could still enjoy a cushy commutes in pimped up vehicles the size of my dining room...

(I know that sounds smug. But really...why were people ever delusional enough to not see this coming? We all knew our petroleum supplies were finite back when my "vehicle of choice" was a purple "banana seat bike".)

Here are a few pointers: If you cannot carry your bags, purchase one of those carts on wheels. Grocery stores sell them and they are not very expensive. Get to know your neighbors. If you can socialize right on your own street, you will be less tempted to hop into the car every time you are bored. Make a list of every necessary shop/service you routinely use. Map them into zones and plan trips accordingly so you are not driving aimlessly all over town. Quit "shopping as hobby" and pick up activities you can do at home or within walking distance.

Offer to pick up items for friends or family members when you go and ask them to do the same for you. Keep the car in the driveway one day on the weekend.

[Wilburrr]

#6 Let them eat cake.

[Uosdwis]

As Letterman keeps hammering every night: "are you kiddin', I have to buy it by the GLASS! I can't even afford to fill my lighter!"

And the audience doesn't laugh.

[michaelescher]

Once again, nothing about mayo. I'm impressed

But there must be a Hummer that runs on fatty condiments, no?

[bdd]

Whole foods???? Do you have any idea how expensive it is there?
I'd love to buy local and I know how much better it is for you, but I CAN'T AFFORD IT!
So I reluctantly continue to shop for food at DeMoulis (Walmart of supermarkets in the Boston area).

[InformedSources]

Repeat--there's no local produce in a Whole Foods Market. It's all trucked in from various farms and then trucked out from centralized distribution hubs. You get the exact same crops from the same fields whether you shop in New York, Chicago, or LA.

Much of Whole Foods's produce is organic--meaning it's grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. But it is not local.

And yes, Whole Foods is extremely expensive. I sympathize with you! Do you have any local greenmarkets this time of year? That would be a good place to look for local or organic produce. Prices should be decent, too.

[clocknova]

All that being said, however, I must agree that a local produce market, or farmer's market, are the best ways to get your local produce fix. If you can find a local farm that also sells pastured (aka grass-fed) meat, then you're really lucky. If you go to a farmer's market, do make sure that what you are buying really is local. At my local farmer's market, the vendors have a nasty habit of supplementing their offerings with store-bought, imported produce. If you're not sure, ask them.

[clocknova]

You also need to start letting go of the idea that some foods, meat in particular, should be cheap. There's a greater cost that we're all paying for the privilege of eating cheap meat with every meal, and it goes well beyond our wallets. A rule of thumb to follow is that if the animal was fed a diet consisting primarily of grain, it's not worth eating. That applies to cows, pigs, chickens, fish, and many other of our animal staples.

[clocknova]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is absolutely not true. I can't speak for your local Whole Foods, but at mine the produce is clearly marked with four distinct labels, color coded for ease of identification: Local (in state), Regional (no more than a few states away), National (grown in USA), and Imported. Obviously, if I want asparagus in the winter, I'm not going to find it with a local label, so local produce must be purchased in season, but honestly, that's the best way to eat anyway.

And as for price, I agree, Whole Foods can be very expensive if you let yourself get carried away. But I also get better deals on some items at Whole Foods that I do anywhere else. For example, 365 brand Orange Juice is cheaper than any other not-from-concentrate store or national brand in town. And their organic milk is cheaper than anywhere I've been as well (though I must admit I will never set foot in a Wal-Mart, so I can't speak for their prices). In fact, more 365 brand items are significantly cheaper, and higher in quality, that corresponding store or national brands from other stores. In other words, you can relatively cheaply in a Whole Foods, if you also shop smartly.