Let Gas Prices Be Your Incentive to Start a Home Business
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Yesterday was the day before my husband’s payday. He had a client meeting all the way out in Rockford, which is a 3 hour round-trip drive. He only had $40 to fill up the tank - and almost didn’t make it back to the office after paying $3.75 a gallon!!
When you think about some of the expenses you incur for working outside of the home, it can add up rather quickly:
- Gas/Train Fare
- Daycare
- Dry Cleaning
- Suits/Clothes (that don’t have juice stains from the kids)
- Lunches
When I quit my job last year to work from home again, I figured I automatically had a new base pay of about $30K because of what we saved on day care, clothing, dining and train fare.
But this post was really an excuse to share this super-cool link with you from MSN. 
If you punch in your zip code, you can find gas prices at all of your local gas stations on one page. In our town, the per-gallon price ranged from $3.47 to $3.75, which is a pretty significant jump when you’re filling up a whole tank (especially in the SUV I wish I didn’t own!). But it’s not as bad as you poor people in Melvindale Michigan who are paying the highest price in the nation of $4.12!
Find out where to fill up in your town.
(Sorry to my non-U.S. friends, but this one is only for U.S. stations! 
)
John has passed along a similar link for those of you in the UK - THANKS!
Sparkplugging Founder Wendy Piersall is dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow). 
Dawud Miracle has one focus: to help you get it. The it? How your website, and blog, can change the way you do business. You can find out more at 
Teresa Morrow manages online book publicity and event promotion for authors, speakers and writers with her company 
Ugh, I can completely relate to this post as I have a 65-mile (each way) commute to work and just paid over $40 to fill my tank.
I’ve got an economical car as well, averaging about 33 MPG but with the price of gas around $3.50/gal that gets expensive with my commute.
Between gasoline and tolls, I am paying about $300-400 per month just to get myself to work! Sure, I can move closer to work but the average home near my office is unaffordable unless I want to be house-rich and cash-poor.
Derek - don’t forget, I know where you live.
Seriously, you are definitely experiencing the problem of many people in the Chicagoland area (and I’m sure others as well!) - that the housing near the jobs is not affordable and the affordable housing is out in the boonies.
I hate to point this out, but if I had to guess, I think you are spending more than that on gas every month!
Wendy, the good thing is that we bought our house in the boonies back in 2000 and the area has been growing so fast that we have had nice appreciation in the property value. But it does come with a cost.
As you mention, with the current prices I am spending more on gas and I have honestly had thoughts if it is all worth it in the end. If prices continue to rise, I will have to seriously propose a full-time work from home scenario to my boss. Right now my work is flexible but I compromise with 4 10-hour days to cut some commute out.
But if eMoms is ever hiring, you know where to find me.
For some reason, we tend to have some of the cheapest gas in the area near us - right now its about 2.94-2.99 - but even that stinks! One of the reasons my husband is on his boss about letting him telecommute 1-2 days a week is his 65+ mile each way commute in horrible DC metro traffic.
it must have dropped here overnight…$3.01 is the low…i’d better go fill up! thanks for sharing the link…
And for your UK based readers there is http://www.petrolprices.com which must have saved me £££ over the last year or so.
John - thanks SO much for the excellent resource AND the link last week to my 94 Ways post!
Hmm, if my conversions are correct, up here in British Colombia, Canada, we’re paying around $4.43 USD per gallon. We’re so getting ripped off up here.
Using approximations of 4 litres = 1 US Gallon and £1 = $1.95 I am currently paying around $7.50 per US Gallon!
Reason enough to work from home and just make the odd foray out. I actually hate driving too and walk the kids to school come rain or shine.
Bummer, John; I remember visiting the UK almost 20 years ago, and gas was around $6/gallon. I think it must’ve been around $1 where I lived.
So USA folks can whine now, but our friends overseas have been dealing with this for years… not that I enjoy paying $3+, mind you…
I’m with John on the gas prices. In Denmark we pay about the same, it has been like that for years now. That’s why we recently bought a diesel car. It is about 36 cents cheaper than gas. Now if people would consider what cars they buy, maybe the gas prices wouldn’t hurt that much. There is no reason to drive a 4WD with 2.8 or 3.2 engine
Not to mention what it does to the enviroment 
Oh and I forgot for the Danish readers
There is: http://www.fdmbenzinpriser.dk/
(You can learn a few Danish words: FDM = AAA, Benzin = gas and priser = prices) and 92 octane is regular, 95 is super and 98 is super duper extra. 1$ = 5,5 Danish Kroner.
We just traded in our two vehicles for a van. Maybe it’ll be a bit easier on us now. Won’t be going on a vacation this year though, not with gas prices. I can only imagine next year though. OUCH. Probably why plane tickets are going up as well.
I have an old Pontiac grand am it is actually a hair over 20 years old and has a little 4 cylinder 2.5 liter engine in it. It gets great gas mileage. One thing I would like to stress is nitrogen air for your tires, carburettor and fuel injector cleaner about every third fill up or so , routine oil change, and make sure your air filter is in good shape. These things alone can improve your gas mileage. My a/c hasn’t worked right since I have had the car so I don’t use the a/c at all which further improves my gas mileage in the summer. There is an old saying 2/20 a/c they used back in the first days of the automobile 2 windows down at 20 miles an hr so I have learned to do that.Just my 2 cents worth.
Wow. $3.75/gallon. I can relate. My Maxima uses Premium fuel only and has a 21-gallon tank. I pay $60+ each fill up. DOH! Luckily, I get pretty good gas mileage.