Fireball, I hear you on the cutting out hunting thing. I had to give up going to my favorite spots for several years because of the costs in fuel. Its only 100 miles round trip, but thats a killer of the deal when i HAVE to be able to pay for fuel to get to work and back and anywhere else i have to be.
For two years, i rarely, if ever, saw my tank full. Now, my wife is working and we are able to put fuel in both rigs, have a few extra dollars to claw our way out of debt and even get my son a few Christmas presents.
Some simple numbers for those of you who cant seem to wrap your heads around this...
$40 is your fuel budget for two weeks.
Your car gets 15 MPG in town, 25 on the highway.
You have to drive to work and back 10 times in 14 days. In my specific case, it is 2 miles to work and back. So 4 miles all told. For my wife it is 8 miles round trip.
Now, at $4 a gallon, you get 10 gallons of fuel. That 10 gallons only nets you 150 miles in town, closer to 250 on the freeway. I am left with 110 drivable miles in town. A trip to some stores is nearly 10 miles round trip. I do my best to grocery shop in large quantities, and that means a 70 mile round trip to Costco, or Winco. My gas goes away pretty quickly. Same goes for my wife's car. And for a long time, we only had one car to do all the traveling. Take into account doctor appointments, errands, store runs for something you need or forgot, and anything else that may come up, you can see how only getting 10 gallons of fuel can limit your ability to do ANYTHING other than the bare essentials.
Now, drop the cost of fuel to $2 a gallon and see how the only thing that changes is the ability to go twice as far for the same $40, and maybe sneak in a hunt or family based activity with the leftover cash?
Why is this so hard for some people to comprehend?
Fireball has his driving to consider, and i have mine. Mine is significantly less than his, but we were both effected pretty much the same by the cost of fuel.
Fuel could go to $.50 a gallon and you'd still need to make some changes.
Travis
