I sat and watched as the news organizations covered hurricane Katrina, and when I heard that oil futures had began over $70.00 a barrel, I thought of the horror of gasoline prices going further towards unpayable.
Those that follow my blog regularly know that we have two children now in private school. In order to take these kids to our school of choice, we have at least 100 miles round trip to take them to and from school. Mrs. G makes this trip twice a day or 200 miles.
I on the other hand have about 40 miles a day round trip to my job each day. Even I can do this part of the equation. We put 240 miles per day on our vehicles for the benefit of living out in the country.
We made the decision to live out in the country because home prices were lower and we could get more bang for our buck, and it would be nice for the kids to grow up away from some of the violence of the big city (yeah, this is probably a complete false idea).
Given a generous 20 mpg for our vehicles, again the math is (getting tougher) we go through 12 gallons of gasoline a day, at $2.50 per gallon. We spend $30.00 each day on transportation, sans wear and tear and maintenance. I think it is time we learned how to telecommute for our travel needs. I think I need to stay home from work from now on and perhaps homeschooling is in order.
I need a raise.
Are there no public schools near that you could send them to via bus?
Honestly, all my freinds that went to parochial schools said there was actually more crime there than in public schools.
I figure I turned out ok. *tic*
Or you could always "unschool" them. Save yourself all that money and time spent transporting, and have smarter kids to boot.
Holy crap that's a lot...
I've been reading a bit on this and the worst horror stories say that suberbia will be ghost towns in 30 years because of gasoline prices. I'm cutting back on driving when I can but higher gas prices are going to raise the prices of all goods due to shipping.
Although working at home has it's challenges, they can be managed and overcome. I've been doing it for 5.5 years. The benefits to both you and Mrs G will be felt in the more time you both have together. The downside is that, of course, once work moves into the house you have to set real boundaries between work and life.
Yesterday I was sick (still am today), so I didn't even do much on my machine. But being able to take a break to take a walk outside is so worth it.
I was doing the math on this subject yesterday, myself, and I only put an average of 60 miles a day on my car. I'm contemplating buying a tiny car with really good mileage just for commuting, provided I can squeeze my butt into one.
Maybe all these new blog ads will pay off for you and you can afford to get to work!
Telecommunting is what my wife does; makes all her cell phone calls while driving from store to store.
Just kidding. But, my sister (oldest in the family) and youngest brother both went to a parochial school, while my other younger brother and I went to public school (in the same town). They had more drug problems and school fights than we ever did. I can't say they had more teen pregnancies, since once the girl was pregnant they were ousted and went to our public school. My siblings still recant unbelievable stories from their school days to my brother and I.
We have a private school in our town. They tout all the awards and academic accomplishments of their students. However, those students that transfer to the local public schools, usually due to the family not being able to keep up with the cost of tuition, often are behind in the curriculum of their public school peers.
Granted, there are some public schools I would not want my kids going to. But, at least in our neck of the corn fields, the public schools are very good.
We have the same situation in our schools here--the private school kids who transfer in are almost always behind in math. I would monitor the curriculum very carefully--I did when my daughters were in public elementary schools, just to make sure they were getting what they were supposed to. A parent should always "home school" whether his/her kids go to regular school or not.
A school would have to be turning my kids into super humans, in order for me to drive 200 miles a day! And the nearby schools would have to be churning out a high criminal to student ratio upon graduation. 40 miles seems reasonable to a CA suburb wife, 200 does not!
That is one hell of a commute! I guess only you and she know if it's worth it.
Seriously, you might bring up the idea with your employer. My husband has been telecommuting for over 5 years now, and they proved that productivity went up ;)
As for gas, it's $2.70 here, and with the hurricane, there is talk about a gas shortage, not just in FL, but in our region. Yikes.
I don't drive 100 miles a day but I drove to southern texas from Houston and then back to Austin all in one day. All said, I drove 800 miles and filled up my 16mpg 26gallon truck several times. Ramen noodles are now my diet until I recoup the losses.
Note to self: That's why I am glad we moved out to the country, which is actually closer to hubby's work. We put a grand total 32 miles a week for him to go back and forth to work, and then about 60/week for church and homeschooling PE/Library/Grocery Shopping/everything we can do in one day....and I was griping about how much gas was costing me!!
You're preaching to the choir.
$30 Dollars a DAY?
Ouch.
That's worse than getting snipped!
Or you guys need to homeschool if the public schools are that crappy & the private one is so far away...
We're hoping for some telecommuting here, but at least my DH carpools with another guy...that helps. I'll be glad when we hit public school and go to the building around the corner from my house, rather than the church private school on the other side of town!
How would you feel if you had to pay another $4 per gallon and that $4 went to the Government?
Because that's what happens over here.
I filled up the car the other day at 92.9p per litre.
1 litre is 0.26 US gallons
So that's £3.57 per US gallon.
And that converts to $6.44 per gallon.
And more than half of the cost is tax.
I've worked from home for the last 6 years and my children walk to school. But even then the price of fuel is crippling - you have to use the car some of the time.
Since I drive for a living so to speak, it's become a major hassle to fill up every four days. Of course, it doesn't help that I drive a gas guzzler SUV, but still, these prices are obscene by any standard.
I say abolish the tax until the barrel price plummets or until we have started drilling in Anwar. Or OK.
I had to get a part time job just to help with the cost of gas. Since my job is basically across the street, I'm all profit. My husband has to drive 35 miles one way to work, spending about $10 a day for gas. We can't afford to live closer to his job, because really, we can't even afford to live here.
We did just get the youngest potty trained, so all the money we're saving on diapers is now going to gas. Everything is about the gas.
Oh man that's alot of $$ per day. My husband has the worry of being laid off & having to get a job in Dallas which we live in Fort Worth..... that's gonna eat alot. Todays news claims we could see gas prices hitting $3 or higher in the next few days. Is there no end in site?
I've been dreaming of being a telecommuter for a while, but up until recently it had more to do with the desire to stay in my jammies all day than with conserving gas.
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