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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Gas prices ruining lives? and clicky poll
A USA Today report says that 71% of Americans are experiencing "financial hardship" due to rising gas prices and over 20% say rising gas costs are "ruining their lives".
I can see if your business depends on travel, maybe it's ruining your life but 20% of everyone out there is ruined because of it? And 71% are having financial hardships? I can certainly understand that if you're already living paycheck-to-paycheck, an extra $50 a month spent on gas sucks--and may be a significant portion of the grocery budget--but doesn't this reflect much larger economic and potentially personal finance problems than just the cost of oil? If $50 a month is a hardship, what do you do when something big comes along?
[Poll]
Re: Gas prices ruining lives? and clicky poll
Our Share of the Harvest:How a couple cooks from a CSA share. Pick Up Day Week 15
Like Becky, H and I have relatively short commutes, so luckily for us it's a pretty insignificant part of our budget. If our commutes were longer and we were filling up more frequently it would obviously have more of an impact, but so far I'm not noticing much more than a $5ish difference when I fill up, which is average 2 times per month.
I can definitely see how it could pose a financial hardship, although 71% does seem high. But let's say you live in York and work in Bmore, commute 5 times per week. You're making enough to be able to pay the bills, support your family, and save 10% for retirement and/or emergencies, but that exhausts your paychecks. If I put myself in that situation, I would feel like I was doing the responsible thing by saving, but I really wouldn't want to dip into my savings to pay for gas, of all things. So maybe I would consider it a financial hardship?
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I have a long commute, but most of that is on public transportation, but I still drive in from time to time and that hasn't changed b/c of gas prices.
I am more willing to drive to get cheaper gas which is not something that I normally do. And, if I'm forced to fill up at an expensive gas station, I will just get the bare minimum so I can go fill up at a cheap place.
If this was happening 4 years ago, we would be suffering a financial hardship. At the time, DH and I were both dealing with significant commutes and a poor state of personal finances. Now I work 5 minutes from home (well, I work from my living room right now), DH has a more fuel-efficient vehicle and our personal finances have improved, so it's annoying and we're grumbling about it, but we're okay.
I agree with Mere. The 71% figure sounds high, but I can see how many folks would consider the rise a financial hardship, especially in the Baltimore-Washington area where so many people have substantial commutes.
if you consider how many Americans aren't able to save for retirement, are in debt, etc. - then this makes sense - bc if you are on a tight budget, then something like paying 70 or 100 bucks to fill up your car (our little car takes about 50-55 dollars to fill up so I cant imagine how much a big SUV costs) could really have a hit on your budget.
If we had longer commutes we would not be "on the brink" but it would definitely be a more significant pinch.
It truly sucks but it's certainly not ruining our lives or causing financial hardship. There are days when I have to drive from Harford county to DC for work and I can certainly see the difference now more than ever but it's something I can't avoid. Just this week I had to drive in Monday and Tuesday and if I don't fill up again today I won't make it from the train station home. My total gas spent for the week (and it's only Wednesday) will be almost $100. That's a lot when you stop to think about it but it's not sending us to the poor house.
I do feel bad for people who are living paycheck to paycheck and can certainly see how this may cause an additional strain on them financially.
I could be wrong but I think this relates to what lsgarver said:
--but doesn't this reflect much larger economic and potentially personal finance problems than just the cost of oil? If $50 a month is a hardship, what do you do when something big comes along?
and she was saying that she was surprised that supposedly 71% of people are in that situation that you were in, and fortunately are out of now.
I'm not trying to delve into your personal finances. I thought Lindsey's point was she was surprised that 71% of people are consistently in a situation such that an extra $50 a month was a hardship, not temporarily like you.
I think the fact that it is such a big deal is a symptom of so many much bigger things. Lack of decent public transportation, poor financial planning, and the general American need for bigger/better. It's been no secret that gas prices are going up, and will continue to do so, and that has been the case for at least the last decade. Yet people still cling to their gas guzzling SUV's (me included). People move far away (ie PA, when they work in Bmore) because they want the big house, but can't afford it closer to where they work. Sure some people may move way out to the burbs for other reasons (schools is one I can think of) but there are great school districts closer to the city, though they would require much smaller houses. I think overall it's a big reflection of the here and now, instant gratification attitude. People want what they want, when they want it, without enough thought into how it may effect them in the future, especially potentially negative effects.
I will admit, I love my SUV. I have had one for 6 years, and I am struggling with the idea of driving something else, even though I know I don't NEED an SUV. I am definitely going to be getting something new in the next few months, most likely a new Focus, perhaps a Taurus. Both of which would more than double my current gas mileage. We will see.
Its also a reflection that we live in a capitalist economy that values profits for shareholder above providing reasonable prices to consumers.
I think the same amount of people live paycheck to paycheck as they did 30 or 50 years ago, but we all buy & consume more than we did then. So, our "built in" regular costs are higher than before. Hello - ipads, iphones, 2 and 3 car families, new cars every few years, regular manicure, pedicures, etc.
Do people think its a "financial hardship" if they have to cut down on the their cable bill or go out to dinner 2 nights a week vs. 4? Probably yes, but its not like they aren't eating either.
ditto to all of that. Right down to the SUV, except in my case it's MH's truck. I think as soon as we have my car paid off we'll be replacing his truck with something like a Focus (or hell, maybe a fiesta) to be his daily driver and retiring the truck for exclusively truck tasks. (like moving the boat, buying lumber, etc)
This is one topic that while I can have lots of sympathy on a case by case basis, I have a hard time feeling anything but frustration for our society as a whole. $4 gas is not a shock. Or at least it shouldn't be.
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I understood Lindsey's original point and, again, my comment wasn't meant to be a point of disagreement with her.
I totally agree with all of this here, but I would venture to say more people are living paycheck to paycheck now partially because of the very things you listed. I mean, 30 to 50 years ago most households could get by comfortably on one income, people had pensions, people cooked from scratch more, expenses were just less in general. Aaaannnnd I am going off on a tangent.
I didn't think you were disagreeing with her. Sorry if it seemed that way.
Agreeing with you guys. Take for example this "friend" of mine. She makes decent money but never has money--yet she has a fancy car with high payment, a fancy phone with an expensive data package, her kids wear name brand clothes, etc. I don't feel sorry for her.
I agree with Carrie that that 71% is probably made up of a lot of different personal situations, mostly boiling down to not managing finances well (or lack of priorities with spending) and those who really can't control their situation--lost job, health, etc.
And I think it's one think "Oh well, sucks to be you for not saving and buying that giant TV instead" but it's another to see that $50 a month is a significant problem for three out of four Americans. AND this problem isn't temporary.
Also ditto Mary on the lack of public transportation and the big-purchase desires of people around here. I'll admit, it's hard to scale down the kind of place I want to live in because it's prohibitively expensive to live in a big house that's near the major work centers in this area. For many, it's a perfectly reasonable decision to live far away and get the big house, the city job and all at an affordable price just by lengthening the commute--until something like this happens.
Our Share of the Harvest:How a couple cooks from a CSA share. Pick Up Day Week 15
Although I'm not really one to talk. I just got a job in DC, DH works half the week in NoVa and yet we continue to live in Baltimore city...my love for the city is too strong to overcome the pain of a longer/expensive commute!
I have owned diesel vehicles as long as I have been driving because they last longer and get better gas mileage. They cost a bit more, but over the lifetime of the car it becomes nominal. My old car is 200,000+ miles on it and has been handed down to my nephew to take to college next year.
When it was time to replace DH's vehicle we traded his SUV for a sedan that gets 30+ MPG because like others said we knew that the price of gas was only going up.
My parents insit on having a truck and and SUV and it makes NO sense to me. Occassionally my Dad needs to pull a trailer, but not often enough that it makes up for the huge gas bill it requires to drive their tanks around town every day.
Did you own/currently own a diesel VW? I'll need a new car in maybe a year or so, maybe diesel is the way to go...
When I had an hour commute the last time gas when up over $4, that was a killer and I have a car that gets 34 MPG. Right now or at least for the next 2 weeks, I have a 5 mile commute. I get gas every 2 weeks. So nice!!
When I move back to MD and have that hour commute again, I will complain and conserve gas when not driving to work.