With the recent surge in gas prices, running your car stopped being the same as before. We’ve always had one complaint or two about gas prices, but never like the recent period. Aside from your personal transportation, the rise in gas prices has changed a lot of things all over.
Without going through all of the theories and reasons that explain why the prices of gasoline are soaring ever higher, let’s be practical here. In other words, instead of complaining about the situation and blaming inflation and the war in Ukraine, let’s accept the situation as it is. After all, only the powers that be are in charge, and we’ve lost the battle the moment corrupt people in power took over. You and I can only battle the situation by making lifestyle changes and adopting coping strategies that will mitigate our damage. It also should be a lesson for us to be more involved and informed about politics and economics. Perhaps, with a population of well-informed, responsible people, we will get the upper hand in some not very distant future.
So, If you were not very careful with your finances in the past, this is the time to reconsider. If the rise in gas prices affected your budget in a way you didn’t expect, you should adopt some strategies to regain the upper hand.
This article will look at some innovative ways to keep your finances balanced with the rise in gas prices.
Start Calculating your Car Expenses
If you’re not already doing so, keeping check of your car expenses is really something vital if you want to be more in control of your finances. If keeping check of our finances wasn’t a big issue for us during the times when inflation wasn’t that bad, it’s time for us to be more financially conscious.
One of the best ways to keep your car expenses checked is to keep a notebook or spreadsheet on your smartphone where you record them. You can estimate your car expenses using http://CarPaymentCalculator.net/. Once you get an estimate of your car expenses for a certain period, you can try some adaptable strategies to lower that number if possible.
Consider Public Transportation
If you’re on the rather lower part of the economic hierarchy, you might start considering public transportation instead of riding your car, which spends a lot. Instead of spending all that money on a ride back home that only costs only half on the bus, why not ditch your car. You can look at it as sharing the price with other passengers along with space. You won’t get to listen to your favorite song loudly, but at least you’ll save money each month that could’ve been wasted on extremely high gas prices due to some war of whatever the media tells us.
You Should Walk More Often or Ride a Bike
Walking is very underrated, at least for those who don’t appreciate a good walk. We all hate those self-righteous, self-proclaimed health and fitness experts who brag about walking 10 miles every day, but those people are into something. You can take your car everywhere you go and become more over-weight than you are right now, or you can take a walk from time to time and burn some excess calories. A 45-min walk is only scary if you think so. When you get used to walking, it becomes a fun activity in its own right.
Also, why drive a car all the time when you can replace it with a bike. Instead of relying on Russian oil and the desire of the shareholders of some oil company in Saudi Arabia, rely on you the natural energy that you get from all the sugar you eat. Your finances might get better if you just decided to ride a bike instead of a car, especially if you don’t need to travel very long distances all the time; your health will certainly benefit from such a choice.
Scan Your Local Area for The Lowest Gas Prices
Alternatively, you can scan your local area for the gas stations that offer the lowest prices compared to others. You can make the job a lot easier by browsing a gas app.
You can also benefit from the loyalty points that many gas stations offer to reduce your costs a little bit.
Bottom Line
The point of the story is to look at the matter from a different perspective. Instead of being stuck in a mental rut and repeating the same complaints over and over, try to come up with simple solutions that will make you more conscious of your finances, at least when it comes to your car.
