Life After The Army » gas

Good Grief

Charlotte — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:06:08 +0000

I went to put gas in my car today and darn near blew a gasket! The other day gas prices at my favorite gas station were $3.17 a gallon… today they were $3.27 a gallon! It’s a good thing a full tank will last me about 2 weeks, if I don’t travel any long distances. It’s getting too darn expensive to drive.

Changing habits

Charlotte — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:21:18 +0000

I’ve been changing my driving habits in order to try to save fuel and money. I used to hit the gas and take off like a shot from a stop and I’d always drive about 5 miles over the speed limit (shhhhh… sometimes more). I’ve become more “sedate” in my driving practices. I take off slowly and work my way up to the speed limit and don’t go over it. Sometimes I’m just a couple miles an hour under the limit. I’ve noticed a lot more people are starting to drive that way around here. I don’t get all ticked off at the people who are driving under the limit anymore. Maybe they had the right idea all along and I just got it.

I’ve also been trying to coast to a stop instead of getting up to the traffic light and slamming on the brakes. Sometimes, if you time it right, you can get to the light just as it changes to green. It uses less fuel to start off from a coast then a dead stop.

Anyway… since starting that the last time I got gas I’ve noticed my car is getting better mileage. I put $30 in over 2 weeks ago, and I got less than I did 2 weeks before that. I usually put $30 in at a half tank left but it’s been over 2 weeks and I’m not at half way yet and I’ve gone more miles. So driving more “sedately” will save you fuel and money. You just need to adopt a laid back attitude while driving.. no road rages and you’ll save money, fuel and your sanity. Maybe someone will give me one of those engraved plaques that says what a good driver I am! lol

Stuff on the 4th

Charlotte — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:54:52 +0000

First off Happy 4th of July (Independence Day) to everyone who celebrates it here in the US. I’m not doing anything but getting some much needed housework done because I have 3 of my 5 grandkids coming over tomorrow to spend the weekend. The 3 that are coming are by my daughter then there is Trey who is by my oldest son and finally Tanner who is by my youngest son. Tanner’s father wasn’t really known until DNA testing was done. Tanner’s mom was Kris’ girlfriend until Kris caught her in bed with another guy hence the need for the test.

I’ve already gotten the dishes done, have the laundry going, made my bed, got dressed, went and got gas and stuff from WaWa. Tomorrow morning I have to go pay my rent, go to the grocery store and pick up some stuff for the kiddos then go pick up the kiddos and bring them here.

I’m off to finish what needs doing. You all have a great holiday!

Work, work, work

Charlotte — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:13:53 +0000

This season at work has been very, very busy. I’ve been working late every day for the past 2 weeks. I even went into work this morning to catch up on some emails, filing and data entry that had been falling behind. It was nice and peaceful with no ringing phones and I got everything done in 4 hours that I wanted to get done. I wasn’t the only work-a-holic there. There were 7, including myself, from our department there and there were other cars besides ours there.

I usually love Halloween but since working here I’m beginning to not care if I ever see another Halloween costume again! I really shouldn’t say that but if I never had to deal with another phone, electric, gas, water or sewer company again I’d be happier than a clam!

What keeps me going back to this place year after year is the people I work with. I’ve never met a bunch of nicer people all in one place. It’s the best place to work, except for a few weeks out of the year when everyone gets stressed and the cranky comes out.

Dropping

Charlotte — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:43:04 +0000

The gas prices are dropping like a rock around here. I saw one station today that was selling regular unleaded for $2.78 a gallon. I was sure we would never see gas below $3.00 a gallon again. I guess I won’t need to go selling Guess watches on EBay to pay for fuel.

My usual station isn’t as cheap as the one I saw today ($2.93 a gallon). That station usually has the cheapest gas around. I’m going to have to change where I go to get my gas. It’s a shame because I would go there and get gas then go in and shop in the store.

I really don’t know what to do

Charlotte — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:04:29 +0000

I still can’t find a job. We have bills to pay this week and there is not enough money coming in this week to pay them. Hubby gets paid every two weeks and got paid last week. This week I get my unemployment which is under $500. We have to pay my car ($300), the cell phones ($150), the gas bill ($150) and hubby needs new jeans (he keeps ripping them at work). Last week hubby had to get new tires for his truck so it will pass inspection, they were bald and wouldn’t pass. They weren’t cheap. Next week the rent is due ($975). I can’t even afford to pack up my shipping boxes and move to a cheaper place right now. My prescriptions are due to be refilled and I won’t even be able to afford to get them. I take 3 different meds and the copays aren’t that expensive ($60 for all 3) but with all the other bills I can’t get them filled or get food.

I talked to someone from where I used to work as a temp and they definitely won’t be bringing me back this year. They had to cut expenses and are going to use other people in the building to do the utility setups for the new stores.

I can’t get rid of my car because if I do get luck enough to find a job I need to be able to get to work. I can’t get rid of the cell phones because they are our only phones. We don’t have a landline in the house.

I’m not having a good day and I know I’m whining. The economy really sucks and there isn’t anything we can do about it.

Please… don’t forget about my giveaway. I put it up yesterday and no one has entered yet. Praise our troops and win some jewelry.

Feeling a little better

Charlotte — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:51:01 +0000

Hubby got paid today and I paid a couple bills, got the car insurance re-instated. The insurance was canceled 6 days ago because we didn’t have the money to pay it. I also finally got gas in my car.. it wouldn’t have made it much longer.. it was almost empty.

I also spent $96.87 on groceries. It would have been $102.55 but I had coupons totaling $5.68. It was also a semi Green shopping trip. I took my reusable cloth bags with me. Shoprite gives you 5 cents off each bag when you bring your own. I had 5 bags so that was another 25 cents savings. There were a lot of things I bought that were 2 for, 3 for, 10 for… that saved a lot of money too.

I didn’t buy a lot but this should last a little while.. hopefully for a couple weeks.

I have some other money coming in next week and I’m trying to sell some antiques I have to a dealer so hopefully we’ll be ok for a little while.

Well that really sucked

Charlotte — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:18:30 +0000

I woke up Friday morning to no internet. I have cable internet and was unable to pay my cable bill. I had no idea when I was going to be able to pay it either.

Last night my good friend Kat told me that she was getting people together to donate to help me get back online and then this morning she told me that the guys at PayU2Blog took up a donation at the office. I got that money this morning and was able to get my cable turned back on. I just love all my friends!!

I was able to get that paid, my gas bill paid and go grocery shopping with money still left over.

I have never seen a company who cares about their employees as much as PU2Blog… not like another company I worked for who cares more about partying and throwing away money.

I must have been really stressed these past 6 days because now I just want to crawl into bed and sleep. I feel so much more at peace. I’m not checking to see if I have gas every hour or so and I’ve waded through tons of emails and requests on FaceBook.

I wasn’t going to be able to have the grandkids over this weekend because I wouldn’t have had to food or money to feed them. Now I can have them come over. I feel like most of a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. There is still some there but I think I can deal with that… for now.

Busy today

Charlotte — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:08:52 +0000

Today I have to do a lot of running around. 1st I have to go to the bank and make a deposit. Then I have to go to WaWa and get a couple things. Then the laundromat… *YUK*. Then to CVS and get hubby’s meds refilled. Then to Shoprite to get some lunchmeat and cheese.

Then I’m sure Andi will need to go somewhere so I’ll have to run out again. Sometime today I also have to get gas in the car.

So now I need to get dressed and get moving. Have fun today everyone!!