Price of Gas .....

Yikes!
We're moving next month and we'll definitely be farther from work which means more gas consumption.
The price of gas down at the corner is 122.3/L and I'm guessing it's just going to get worse, unless someone here knows different ;)

We're going to be doing things a little differently to be able to afford gas and the first thing I'm giving up is my daily love affair with Tim Hortons....bye bye Timmie :o( . I might allow myself the odd cup but really that's it. I'll make my own because I do spend too much there.

Next month when we get into our new place, we're not hooking up the cable or satellite or whatever it is you get out in the country. We're going to try to go without as long as possible but I suspect certain somebodies will be climbing the walls come the cold weather so we may have to have tv for winter.

My Bell bill will be lower as we're going from High Speed to No Speed (ok, ok...dial up). Should be fun....not.

Another way we're going to pinch pennies is to buy local goods & produce plus I'll be growing some of our own veggies if I can get that garden up and running. There is an organic farm down the road from my new home called Everdale and I suspect I'll be able to visit and get some help in the edible gardening department.....I really suck at farming, haha.

We've also quit smoking (since Mar 31st) so we're saving a lot already as you can imagine.

So, what's the cost of gas in your part of Canada? Is the price increase affecting your lifestyle? What are you giving up if anything?

Erynne

$1.21/L here.

I think you'll find buying local to be way more expensive. The cost of organic, here anyways is outrageous!! I do my shopping after work while I'm already in town. I buy a lot of reduced veggies and last day of sale meat, save a fortune that way.

We don't eat out, maybe once a month.

I don't plan on giving up much of anything. my car is pretty good mileage wise, town and work is 17KM one way and I can do that 5 days a week for maybe $30.

$1.24.9/L At least it was yesterday. We have already given up one vehicle, a 3/4 ton pu and the 5th wheel that we had. For the amount we used it, it just wasn't economical. We're thinking of giving up all the extra channels and HD on cable and just get the basic cable. We downsized our living space last yearand this year will have some veggies in the flower garden.

Linda

$121.5/L this morning. We drive more than 200 km round trip for work each day. Luckily, my little sports car is back on the road now that the snow is gone and it gets about 43 mpg. Not considering giving up anything except most unnecessary travel. The way I see it is that I'm not going to take on all of the suffering myself to grant the oil companies their obscene profits. They're going to take a hit too, at least from me. Maybe "one person can't make enough of a difference to matter", but a multitude of one persons sure can!

In our area it is far less expensive to buy locally direct from the farmers. Some livestock farmers are even gathering into loosely knit "co-ops" to sell (government inspected) meat directly to the consumer. If you can get enough people to go in with you on whole animal purchases you can get very good deals.

I believe that I need to support my neighbours. If I don't, who will, and what are we going to do when our farmers are all gone and we're reliant on other provinces and countries for our food? This could be a reality here in Ontario before long. LOL Okay, I'll get off my soap box now :-) In case you couldn't tell, I feel very passionately about this.

Ginny, it's so sad the way the farms are disappearing. We were driving up Torbram road the other day and it's development after development....a short while ago these were farm lands. The farmers need more of our support and government support or there isn't going to be much left. Farming is rough and I can't blame many for wanting out of it especially when a developer just flashes the cash so to speak but I sure can appreciate those who stay in it.
I met a lady from my new area and she's going to point me in the right direction when it comes to buying locally to save some moola.

Erynne, who's on that soap box with ya!

you just keep adding on to that soap box and soon we'll have a wagon and then .....

i buy local (and organic when i can) for my restaurant and i am pleased to pay the increase to the men and women growing/raising the stuff - its hard work and they deserve to be adequately compensated

if we paid the true cost of transportation all that supermarket produce would be double the price

highly recommend reading 'animal vegetable miracle' by barbara kingsolver for those of you who are on this particular soapbox with many of us

i am not in favour of the extreme '100 mile diet' cause i live in zone 3 but if we all consciously and conscientiously read labels and opted for goods that travel less and support our local businesses, i truly believe we would all be better off

ok i will relinquish the soap box to the next one who wants a turn

oh yes the actual topic of the price of gas --

i do find that i spend a lot more time than i use to planning my driving so that i am not doubling back or having to take xtra trips

i also try hard to stay off gravel and dirt surfaces, stick to pavement and i have actually slowed down some (in addition to slowing down significantly due to advancing years but thats a whole other topic) i check my tire inflation much more often (at least one a week) and try to remember to fill up a couple of days before holiday weekends when the price always jumps

it went up today.... 129.9/L up 5 cents over night!

Erynne, not sure why I would know this but had your DH's birthday listed on my calendar...isn't that the strangest thing...is it his birthday????

deisel $149.here
Gord in BC

Hi Betty! Yesss! Yesterday was his birthday and I got him a ride on mower (gas operated...sigh). We're moving today and I have but a minute before we leave work (few things to wrap up) and we head home to move. Yesterday afternoon we moved all of my hostas and such......omg, what a headache.....slap me if I ever decide to move my garden again will ya! I've been fretting about leaving my plants so many miles away all night....I hope the deer didn't make a buffet out of them. DH said the trailer looked like a cart full of lettuce, lol.

Oh geez, I'm so excited today.....jumping up and down like a school girl....so much to do! And I got a tiller/cultivator thingy!!

Okay, thanks so much for remembering Gary's birthday Betty!!

Erynne

Good luck on the move, hope rains comes our way and gives you both a break..just had no idea where I got his birthdate onto my office calendar..so funny!

Hope your move went smoothly Erynnne. It is such an exciting but scarey time. Let yourself move in, get the feel of the new house, the area, the grocery stores and such before you go all hog and just jump right in.
Looking forward to hearing how the move and settle in went.
Dianne in Verona, formerly from Woodstock, Guelph, London, Bowmanville, Oshawa, Toronto and Fairport Beach. Yep. I've moved alot! I have some Hostas that have made every move with me!

What an exciting time for you guys! Busy, busy too. Hope all went smoothly. If you can stay smoke free through the move, then you've definitely got it licked! It's tough to quit - let alone during a stressful time. Sounds like you have the right attitude, though.... a new challenge, bring it on! lol

I thought for the long weekend the gas prices would have jumped higher than they did.

Sandy

So... how did the move go?

Our gas didn't increase for the week prior to the long wekend, and is still at 133.9/L

Linda

OMG Linda I was getting upset at 126.9 per litre - guess I should cool my jets!
Dianne

still 123.9 here but i use premium so 132.4

Well here we are, all moved in and on dial up no less,lol. We had a few issues getting the computer up and going but that's all solved now.
I'm sore all over from hauling and lugging and putting stuff away as is DH but everything is unpacked. We also made a raised vegetable bed today and we found a local farm nearby that sold us a trailer load of well aged compost for next to nothing.
I also cleaned up a few small beds and ripped out a ton of those orange ditch lilies.... sorry but those things will take over if left to their own devices.
I had time on Saturday to take in the Erin Garden Club plant sale and buy a few things. While I perusing the plants, the lady at the booth managed to talk Gary into joining the club, roflol! I find great humour in this (laugh, laugh, you had to be there). He signed us both up in the end.
So now, I'm comtemplating the hosta beds and other garden beds and I'm very tempted to have a local landscaper come in and do all the grunt work. Oh geez, I almost forgot to add that I'm no longer dealing with that rotten compacted clay! I have some sort of nice diggable soil where the shovel just glides in easy. I think it's a sandy loam of sorts and things seem to grow very well here.

Kidneyguy, we sold our land late last year and it was situated on Raymo Rd, not far from where you're at. I miss going to the Bravo restaurant.

I'll be taking some pics soon once there's something to show other than fields of green, lol.

Erynne

BTW, there's frogs here....yup, near gave me a heart attack when cleaning the weeds out.

Gas is 135.9 here and rising. Time to start walking where we can and consider downsizing to a more fuel efficient vehicle. Right now we have a Jeep Grand Jerochee, pig on gas and a Dodge Ram van which we need for work but is a real gas guzzler.
Barb

I'm glad to hear that everything has gone so well for you Erynne, and any place that comes with frogs is definitely a keeper!

--Ginny

I agree Ginny, frogs and toads are a good sign of environmental health.
It was so nice to wake at 5:30 am and look out the window at our lot. I think the word is idyllic. Lets see if I feel the same when the winter comes, lol.

123.9 this morning at home in Hillsburgh and at work in Brampton. DH and I decided that we may set up a bed in our office and sleep at work the occasional night, especially when we have big jobs, to reduce the fuel consumption. Those smaller cars are looking better and better all the time but with 4 kids and work-related deliveries, we have no choice but to keep this SUV.

Have a great day everyone!

Erynne

136.9/L as off yesterday. Yikes!!

Just saw this thread crop up on the 'newest posts' . . . for comparison, in the UK it is £1.15 per litre. That's equivalent to $Can 2.24 per litre.

Glad I've not got a car!

Resin

$1.47 euros in italy = $2.21Can. We toured by car eek! for 2 1/2 weeks. Thank goodness it was little and diesel goes a long way!!

So wasn't it a wonderful idea that our rail companies had of closing down most of the lines out in the prairies! Now grain gets trucked for looooooooooooong hauls to the nearest monstrous terminals (just think what everyone is going to pay for a loaf of bread when one considers the cost for the gas to put the crops in, spraying, harvesting and then hauling (and on top of that the increased price due to using the grain for biofuels).

My husband drives around 400 km per day (sometimes 800KM).......you should see our gas bill (thankfully the company refunds). Right now we have a $2,000 bill that should be paid and in the bank today (I'm praying ;S)

I'm considering getting a grain grinder and making my own bread from our farm.

Lilypon: great to see you posting! Hope all is well with you.

Glenda

Thanks Glenda......there aren't any improvements (Dad's cancer seems to show a small growth). However life continues and he is interested in gardening and Mom likes to hear about it too (not that she remembers) so I'm working on brushing off the blues and planting up a storm.

Dad bought a small 6 x 8 (?) greenhouse for me as a belated Christmas gift so I did my best to fill it with a mixture of seedlings (1/2 I started, 1/2 purchased) and am now getting very eager to plant out....have planted my tomatoes a week ago but held back 1/2 in case a killing frost (possibly on May 27th) strikes. Cold weather seedlings that were planted at the veggie patch are also up. :)

We won a covered bike wagon a number of years ago and am thinking of using it this summer to haul stuff to and from the veggie garden on south hill.........will save gas then (and I've now made this post on topic) and will be good for us. :D

Our son is working this summer for Ag Canada (he's working with the DNA of crops) and he lives 5 Km from the University. He doesn't have a car and his student bus pass ran out at the end of the term so we sent his mountain bike up. Between the daily bike ride and I gather now isolating each one of the 6, 000 plants out in the field from cross pollination our son will be in great shape by the end of summer (hope he remembers bug spray, protective lotion and a hat).

This message was edited May 23, 2008 11:47 AM

Glad to hear your news! You sound very busy. Sorry to hear the news on your dad. Keep your chin up!!!(my mother always used to say that! LOL)
We aren't using much gas here either. Hubby is away, I am looking after the yard. I like the quiet life and just enjoy being outside in the yard, and in the house on the computer!!!! A bit boring but all is well. I am getting more and more like my hubby. Don't like to leave the yard!
How's your weather?? We are still having cloud, wind, some rain, cool, etc etc etc. Getting tired of it!

We were up in the low eighties for awhile but are hitting the mid 60's now. We need rain desperately! The southwest corner of SK is finally getting some......farmers/ranchers are dancing a jig there (their faces have been showing a lot a strain prior to this).

This message was edited May 23, 2008 11:56 AM

Haven't been in touch with our renters, so not sure what is happening in the Eston area. They did get that late snow so hopefully they are good for the moment for moisture. I have a friend in Eston on Facebook, and she posted the other night that they finished seeding just before the rain hit. Each area is just so different with moisture, isn't it???

Lilypon! How wonderful to see you here again :-)

I too am sorry to hear the news about your Dad. I know it's hard to just get on with it when you feel so helpless in the face of that horrible disease.

The price of gas actually dropped here this morning. Now it's only $1.26/L. That and the forecasted warm and sunny weekend have put a smile on my face.

I've missed you here - welcome back.

--Ginny

:) Thanks Ginny!

Glenda Eston/Plato survived the best in the dirty thirties......Grandpa made a fortune then (y'all have that good gumbo soil and if rain falls your laughing). Our farm is near Regina and most years (except 2001 to 2006)) it's done not too bad. We have new farmers on it now and they are determined to get a good crop off it......last year they did very well so with rain (they may have got what Moose Jaw hasn't) I expect we will do alright as well. It's the line from the U.S. border up to Moose Jaw and from Alberta to Manitoba that's so incredibly dry (I can't even begin to tell you how bad some of those areas look).

I did hear from a Ukrainian who has land in the Yorkton area and he had no crop last year. The rain was pretty good in that area but none really fell on his land. He's never seen that before and those fellows are great farmers but if the rain doesn't come.......

Lilpon hopefully our Cowtow rain will make it your way.

Oh yes please lets send all that rain to Lilypon.

Good to see ya gal! We're having a little round up here June 21 when Inanda comes thru again. Come join us?

Thanks folks Ü it's trying to do just that.....so far we've gotten enough to knock the dust down and make the air have that wonderful clothes just off the line smell.

Fancy thank you and I'll keep it in mind but no promises (depends on gas prices and whether DH has a call near our border).


The wind has been particularly strong lately and without moisture everything is flying though the air. Picture was taken this past week......it's not showing snow, rain, fog, etc.. It's the salt from the sloughs that are drying/dried out.

This message was edited May 24, 2008 7:50 PM

Does that mean that it smells like the sea, having all that salt in the air?

LOLOL It smells like a very, very ancient sea Linda (and somewhat like the bottom of my lily ponds ;).

nice to have you back pam (gas here 1.28 reg and 1.37 premium) now if i could just train the dogs to pull my bike at 70+kph so i could actually get somewhere in a reasonable amount of time and tow a carry all behind it so i could still pick up all the supplies and oh yeah i would need a heat houser for it ---- hmm, don't think that would be an acceptable city vehicle look

Thanks Lynn...I imagine it would be pretty difficult to change that much in Edmonton. I must admit however I am fondly eyeballing the little tiny, fuel miser "Smart Car".....I believe someone here once called them a pot hole filler. Until then, my much slower then 70 mph 10 speed and wagon will have to do.

Last night more rain fell.....not enough to get overly excited about but every drop helps.



This message was edited May 25, 2008 2:38 PM