We bought the new car on April 4. On March 15, or 39 days later, I filled it up for the first time since that day. It was $65 for super premium, at $3.96. In those 39 days, we have driven 870 miles between the two cars, or an average of 22 miles a day for both of us. That includes one trip to the burbs to show off the car, and another for business. So, 22 miles a day, or 11 miles a day each.
That's quite an anomaly in Texas, where many people commute alone over 60 miles to work every day. In an SUV. Those people, not me, are the ones complaining about gas prices.
Life is choices. We made the choice to live in a (relatively) small 1,300 square foot urban condo. We have a shared wall and shared yard. My work is .8 miles away. We can and do walk to dozens of local restaurants and bars as well as many friends' houses and apartments. We can walk our dog to the park, or to the tennis courts, or to one of the many restaurants with a patio. Anywhere we need to drive is within five, maybe ten, miles.
I don't feel a lot of sympathy for people who have high gas budgets around here. Almost always that means they have some McMansion in the burbs. I don't judge that choice, I don't really care. But if you made that choice, you can either live with it or change it. Don't complain about it to me; sell it. Real estate is doing great around here.
I'm just sick of this "poor me" whining mentality that it's someone else's fault and not yours because of your choices. Surely you didn't think gas was going to get cheaper? Did you think your house would get closer? I have made choices in my life that reduced my commute and my fuel consumption, but that's not common, at least in Texas.
6 comments:
Totally agree! Being an adult is all about making choices and accepting the consequences.
Just a small point here -
Not everyone has a longer commute purely out of choice.
I bought a home 5 years ago that was within walking distance of my office. 2 years ago, our business announced they were moving to a new building. Now, instead of a 20 minute walk to work, I have an 11 mile drive. I'm actively watching for an opening at the old complex that would allow me to walk to work again, but that is beyond my control.
For now, if I move closer to my current office, I have the option of living either in unsafe rundown areas or in homes that come at a $100,000 premium to my current home. That move would also cause my wife to drive further to work.
So it wasn't necessarily a choice of mine to live this far from work. Had my office not moved, I would have lower taxes, and with just my wife driving to work, our monthly gas bill could be as low as $40-50.
That said, I can live with the costs I have now. I'm not happy about it, but it isn't a disaster for me personally....
Made the same choice about paying a premium to live closer to work. I hvae no idea why people complain so much.
Perhaps because not all people are presented with a choice?
I could live closer to work, either:
1) In an apartment/home in violence-infested areas where there are murders and body parts found every night
2) Buy/rent a place I simply cannot afford.
You see, not everyone is so fortunate as to be able to afford living closer to work... at least without risking their lives....
Anonymous makes a a good point - I lucked out and found a safe neighborhood to live within 15 mins walking distance to work. Most people live in very unsafe or borderline sketchy areas.
I read in the paper today this electrical engineer makes a 4 hour roundtrip commute daily for his job from Madera to Silicon Valley I think. Ouch.
People I know who own SUVS buy for the safety factor irrelevant of gas prices. Their wallets are a whole lot lighter.
anon makes a really good choice.
u really are quite judgmental. Not everyone can afford to live close to their job. In boston do u know how much things cost in the center? things are cheaper the farther you go out... so it is annoying when gas prices go up b/c it takes away from what ur saving....
a random point - u want to adopt a foreign baby (maybe) and ur embarking on an inter racial marriage - u might want to work on seeing different perspectives a little before that time.
I think you have done an awesome job with ur finances and ur blog gives a different perspective so I enjoy reading it. just wanted to add that so you know it's not a hateful comment
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