My dh has been saying that if we could ever move it will be like getting a payraise. He drives a little Mazda pickup, coming home only on Wed. and Fri. and still spending over $100/week for gas. We also live out in the country and it is 100 miles round trip to go to Wal Mart. I usually go weekly, but I may need to cut back to every other week. Gas is $2.89 in southern Ky.
babymomahro1 doesn't your ex hubby help pay, for child support. Wish I was closer to help out. try the food pantry they will help too. It's a nice place or the salvation army they help check them out. There's other things beside government. Also, your local churches they help out. When I was in Wisconsin at a church we picked a family to help mostly during holidays I don't know if they do it year around but worth checking in on. Gas down here in the south today to 2.95 oh that is sweet! LOL
I've already looked around and they all say I am making too mauch even though we only bring in 1100 a mo. Our rent alone is 665! My ex only pays 73 a mo and the court is allowing it. It's very tight and were I live getting help is even harder!
Here's another email I received... some people are creative... This is what they call a Texas Motorcycle...a COWasawki :lol:
babymama, be glad you don't live here. A 3 bdrm apartment here is 8-9hundred /mo, plus utilities, and a 3bdrm house is 1-2thousand a month! Call some churches to see if they do an 'adopt a family' thing. Churches don't make you qualify, although you might get invited to a service. Our church gives groceries at Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus they give gifts at Christmas. When the baby comes the hospital might even be able to advise you on where to get help.
Churches should help you. When I worked at a church we took the peoples bill and housing into consideration and at least helped with food and clothes. They also took on kids for Christmas gifts. Check there for sure. You should get some help.
Ok, so how can we help you? Churches are usually really good about helping out - that's a part of their ministry, but they have to know the need before they can do it.
Anybody hear about the C.E.O. of Marathon fuel stations capping his gas prices at no more than $2.99 a gallon? The way I heard it was he refused to sell his gas for more than that and it has forced everyone else to match his price... At least that's what I heard. I'm not sure if it's true. If it is, I'm going to buy my gas at Marathon from now on!
I've never heard of Marathon....but here at Wal-Mart the gas is down to $2.83...I'm in the midwest where gas is always cheaper. Anyone else use ethenol?
I'd not heard about Marathon, but it makes sense. DH and I were amazed that ALL the prices here in central Ohio are EXACTLY 2.99.9. We have never seen it like that where EVERY station is the exact same price. If it's true, I'll be going to Marathon!
You see, there are people out there who aren't out there to rip off the consumer (how ironic is that). Wish we had Marathon here. Most of the gas we get in Canada comes from Alberta - they weren't hit! I don't understand why our gas is so outrageously high (yes I do - the government collects a lot of tax revenue from it - the higher the price, the more they can gouge us). There are all kinds of countries offering and sending gasoline to the US - I sure hope we see relief at the pumps AND SOON...
I'm gonna get knocked in the head for this one.....but I just think it's goofy that other countries are sending gas to us. We are by far one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We don't need the extra gas....all we'll do is use it foolishly, kwim? If we were more patient content people we wouldn't be using as much gas as we do and thus making the cost of gas cheaper. Just kinda odd to think we are in a gas crisis to the point of other countries being "charitable" with it....are these countries actually giving us loans where we'll get stuck in the end paying them interest? Just curious.
You are right that many are very wasteful. But my DH works about a half-hour drive away. There is no bus system to speak of. We've one store nearby, but to walk there, I'd have to walk on busy roads with three kids (going under the interstate where there's no sidewalks or anything). Music, dance, and soccer are also too far away. Everything is moving farther out of town, and we have no choice but to go to them. Even our church is way across town! I don't know how we can cut back, except to do away with music, dance and soccer.
America is too big for people to have to pay $2.99 a gallon. At that price, many won't be able to do much of anything, especially in the Midwest where everyone farms and lives a half-hour to an hour away from any real civilization. Farmers could barely afford to go to town very often the way it was and I'd hate to see how it is now. I don’t want to sound unthankful for the little bit of relief received from Marathon but I still think we are being overcharged for gas and the price needs to come down even further. I don’t want the relief of not having to pay $3.50 override my outrage with $2.99 in the first place. Gas companies still haven’t given a good reason for the high prices and something still needs to happen. Even if my family tries to cut back, we can't afford to pay these prices much longer. Besides that, I'm downright scared what those gas prices are going to do to the price of groceries, stamps, etc... :?
my dh's works in the oil fields down here in the south and he keeps telling me they will not lower the price to much, they are trying to get us use to this price then they will up it more. They really don't need a reason to raise price. No place gives anyone reason when they raise price. When you go to eat they don't tell you why they raise the price so the gas company feel they don't need any of us. It is what it is. They figure if you can afford to drive a 30,000 to 40,000 dollar car what does 3.00 a gallon of gas nothing. That's just my opinion don't get mad at me.
Jackie, I didn't even really mean practical things to conserve gas. I guess I was thinking of how busy, busy the US has been for years and those years of waste and greed are now taking a toll on all of us at the pump. Does that make sense? Although we are trying to conserve as much as possible, it would take a nationwide effort to "reverse the clock" so to speak.
Oh, and a note about hiked up grocery prices as well as other things......the suppling/shipping companies have long been charging a fuel surcharge for every delivery....and at the store I work at (horse/pet supplies) the suppliers have started doubling that charge and therefore forcing the rise in retail prices to make up that difference. Just the other day we ordered an item for about $30...it had a $10 fuel charge making the actual cost to the owners $10....that's a 33% increase in cost. That drove their actual cost up higher than the original retail therefore forcing them to raise the price or they would be selling at a loss. Please don't get upset with your retail stores (especially mom and pop places) because they are usually the ones who literally can't do anything about the rising prices of things. The price of oil is the key element that drives our costs. Just something to think about.
I don't get upset with the stores for the most part. I get upset with the corporate greed. I can buy lunch meat at the farm market out of town for $2.99/lb, regular. The same lunchmeat is "on sale" here at the big chain store for $5.99. So how is it the farm market can sell it so much cheaper? Yes, I am expecting them to have to raise their prices soon, and I won't be upset with them when it happens. But even then, it will still be way lower than the big chains. The only thng I can thnk of is that the chains have a gigantic overhead, and are expected to turn huge profits. The farm market wants a profit to be sure, but they're goal is to make a living, not retire in the Bahamas.
I think I take for granted that in rural America everything is just cheaper. We don't have that kind of price difference anywhere...farmer's market or retail chain.
