What is the future of gas?

ha!! Looking at both options, but then when do we get into the car payment canceling that out?

We are looking at options. Moving closer to work…..housing prices go WAYYYYY up, so mortgage goes up. We’ve looked at renting as well closer to work. At that point we are within $150 of ownership. Moving to a different state is not an option as we have a blended family (both wife and I are divorced and both remarried).

Elections have consequences. We went from being $2000 or so above (saving, paying off any debt etc), to both being negative. Our bills have not changed, my pay has even gone up. If I do nothing but change gas prices back, we are back to the $2000 above.

Our best option at the moment is to just stick things out, work on our food budget (more pastas, hotdogs, PB&J, soups etc) and just wait for fuel to regulate and go back down. We currently have land, fairly new cars (hers is a 2017 with 250,000 miles) and equity in the house. We’ll make it happen. Just not a fun time and we will probably add more debt to the CC’s. I had about $5k extra in my checking. It should get me through this year at least.

 

You do a lot of driving apparently. That Sorento needs to go away. You have the badass 4Runner, why would you need that stupid Kia! Just replace it with something more effecient. Market is hot, get rid of it. Replace it with something that cuts the gas bill in half. Your gas bill is so bad. At this point buying a new car makes sense. It will pay for itself in 5 years. $3,600 a month in gas is pretty scary. Gas prices will get worse.

 

Oh we drive a ton. $1800 mortgage would go up to $4500+ for the same 3 bedroom house (1680 sq feet) closer to work. And, the Sorento can’t go. We need the seats (family of 6), and we would get a car payment. Like I said, literally gas cost. I put that back to what we paid before and all is well. It’ll drop. Just have to be patient.

 

$1,800 mortgage, what part of Cali is that?

 

ha! Way east. There are fields with cows, horses and a legit old train!! We live about as county as you can get! Vaulted ceilings and all. An old gun battle took place in the 1800s at the river down the street. Building is still there. Good idea to have a generator out here and extra fuel for the “just in case” scenarios. We get snow in the winter.

 

Oh, no wonder you have such a big gas bill. Hey country is good, dont move closer. Figure a way to cut bills. Eastern snowy Cali is so good. I visited Yosimite, fell in love.

 

i’m at just under 20k miles on the 4 runner in 6 months

 

Wow. You have dried up some oil wells already

 

But I’ve looked good doing it!! And I have loved every second

 

Yeah it is a 4Runner, nothing like it

 

$3600 per month for gas is incredible. By my math that means your household is driving more than 9000 miles per month. Can that be right?

Let's see.... $3600 divided by an average of $6.00 per gallon (more than you quote above) = 600 gallons per month. Even if you average only 15 MPG between the 4R and Sorento, that's 9,000 miles of driving per month.

 

Between the two of us, you are not far off. 4 kids, 3 schools and then work. Full tank of gas every day when it’s my turn. My last fill up was $96 I believe

 

this is probably the first time I can say, get a fuel sipper for that commuting. Get something that get 40 mpgs, and you have cut that 3600 in half, that gives 1800 for car payment and what not. In the end, you have a extra vehicle and not giving that money to the oil tycoons.

 

Totally. I still can’t believe two people are driving 9000 miles per month. And honestly, a $3600 monthly gas bill suggests it’s a lot more than 9,000. That estimate was based on $6 gas and only averaging 15 MPG. Anyone driving hundreds of miles each and every day can’t be driving in mostly city environments. The actual MPG has to be higher than that, Espec when factoring in the Kia.

 

i see your point, But if this is the case, a fortune can be saved monthly, like at least a grand a month.

Maybe a motocycle?

 

The title says it all

 

the crazy part is because she takes her kids every day, we spend more on hers. I drive 5-6 days a week. Two of those days is taking my daughter to and from school. Round trip from doorstep to doorstep is about 3 hours. On those two days, I fill up each day at a cost of $90-$100 (it was $96 two days ago). Most of it is the traffic coming back home on my days off.

our closest actual grocery store is about 30-45 min away.

 

I can't even fathom this.

3 hours driving for school, at 100 bucks a journey. I would have already had something more fuel efficient, watching those dollars go would kill me.

 

This might be the first time I actually thought someone could save money by buying another vehicle.

Have you guys ever considered a 3rd vehicle, like a Corolla or Prius?

 

Prius has combined mpg of 54. Monthly payment with zero down shouldn't be more than $600. It will cut that $3,600 gas bill to $1000. But its a freaking Prius

 

Time to start homeschooling

 

Brian has 4 kids. You gotta pay to play

 

NEWS FLASH

Visa changes rules for gas stations to avoid $125 pump limit.

 

Is that a new thing? I filled up last weekend and there was a $200 hold on my credit card when I checked on the mobile app.

 

Visa card?

 

Yep. Chevron.

 

The Future of Gas is carbon neutral synthetic fuels that, while relatively expensive, mean we can run our 4Runners indefinitely and with a clean conscience despite the inevitable (and largely positive) EV revolution.

I hope

 

Most people would agree that the big problem with EV's is range and recharge time. I could see buying a Rivian in a year, but it won't cut it for long trips, especially in the winter. With the news of sulfur based batteries that can tripe range and eliminate the need for much of the cobalt mining in the Congo, we might be making a quantum leap forward in EV's in the next few years.

 

The government is forcing electric car manufacturers to warranty the batteries up to 100,000 miles, California 150,000 miles.

I think when people will actually start driving these, you’ll be getting hammered with sky high battery replacement costs after 5 to 8 years.

 

Toyota RAV4 prime battery warranty is 10 years or 150k miles. That works for me.