Gasoline - how much do you spend. ?

[papadad111]

A big debate on another thread is centered on oil stocks and trading the oil bust etc. Got me thinking....

How much did I spend over the last few years for fuel on average. And with low gasoline and propane (or NAT gas) prices so low how much money in budget is freed up to chase other things ....

I averaged 1400/year for propane which is looking like it's now around 900 at current rates

I averaged $4500 per year for gasoline which now, looks closer to be closer to $3000 per year.

So my savings is looking at around $2000 per year. Not huge savings but the dining out and hobby budget as well as travel budget goes up as a result.

So... Curious how much you're saving. I'm not counting the deflation of other products. Maybe you've seen prices down on other products leading to budget relief. If so.. What products (eg. Your plastics hobby or what ever.... Just made that up).

Gas hit $1.39 here. Cheapest I've seen in years.

 

[NW-Bound]

My heating/cooling is all electric, and the utility company is not saying anything about rate reduction.

And as retirees, we drive so little. I looked and found that we spent $800/year on gasoline for the cars. The RV fuel is tracked separately, and we have spent as much as $3500 on a 2-month long trek. That would see more of a saving, but I have no plan to drive that much this year. Maybe I will think of some places to go, but after two past years of much RV driving I don't feel like tackling Alaska this year.

About prices of other products going down, I have noted that many things appear to be cheaper, such as meat, dairy products, and even some lumber material. I said "appear" because I have no concrete data, and just a feel. And some of that may be due to a higher value of the US dollar for the case of imported goods, not just the lower energy cost.

 

[marko]

On a macro level, I was paying about $75 every 5 days a few years ago. Now it's about $25 each fill up.
Don't know where the extra $$ is going now, but DW contributing to the economy the prime suspect.

 

[jjquantz]

We also do very little driving - last year we spent $478 on 17 tanks of gasoline. We've filled up twice this year, a total of $32.

 

[NYEXPAT]

We use gas for cooking and spent about $35.00 last year. The prices are pretty much fixed but I do have "Dollar strength" working in my favor for now.

 

[Senator]

I only keep good records for my F350 Diesel.

2015 - $1658
2014 - $2419

 

[Tom52]

Even though I am enjoying the low gasoline prices of late, I find that yearly spending is not all that big a % of my budget. These totals include gasoline needed for lawn mowing.
2016 YTD $90.66
2015 $1,092.73
2014 $2,389.16
2013 $1,970.72
2012 $1,903.43
2011 $1,797.51

I have 5 major driving trips planned for this year partially because of the low gasoline prices. In years past when gasoline was really high we purposely drove fewer miles because of the cost. We retired in early 2014 but had many trips due to interstate move to our new home, so that is the reason for the higher than normal spend that year.

The further question from OP about deflation of other products, I definitely don't see that. Prices keep going up at the grocery store, especially with beef prices, and the prices continue to rise at the restaurants. Utilities sure aren't passing along any savings and I haven't heard that UPS has been lowering shipping rates due to the huge savings in fuel costs.

Price is currently $1.60 in our hometown in Iowa, but the next town over price is consistently $0.20/ gallon cheaper. Makes no sense to me. I will be traveling thru Missouri this weekend heading South and I expect to see much lower gasoline prices there.

 

[Car-Guy]

My driving varies a little each year but off hand I'm probably averaging 30k miles a year now that I'm retired. Last year maybe a little more. My primary daily drivers burn premium gas, and lot's of it (which is still over $2 a gallon around here) so that bumps up my cost. However I have vehicles that burn regular and diesel too. My best guess (based on a quick averaging of my monthly gas bill) is about $4000+ in 2015.

Even if my fuel bills are down by 50% over the past few years, the difference isn't enough to change how much I drive or what types of vehicles I buy. However, I am a car-guy so that may help explain my attitude about fuel prices and gas mileage.

 

[rbmrtn]

Since not commuting for work anymore not saving much. Maybe spend $25/month. Lost much more in energy stocks than I'll ever makeup in gas prices.

 

[phil1ben]

Below is our usage over the past few years which has remained somewhat constant:

Gasoline: Usage is about 2200 gallons. Savings about $1.20 per gallon or $2,640.00/year.

Propane: Principal residence heated by propane. Annual usage is 3100 gallons (its a big house) and the savings has varied from year to year but I will ballpark an average savings of $0.70 per gallon (recently paid $1.57 per gallon) which equates to an annual savings of $2,170.00.

Now the real question is where does that money go. And the answer is ...................?

 

[athena53]

We've got a Nissan Altima and a Nissan Sentra, so pretty decent gas mileage. We moved from one suburb to another about 20 miles away in July, though, and our gas consumption is way up. We're not changing doctors or dentists and we still attend the same church. My Toastmasters Club is also in the old town. So, mileage is definitely up.


Actual numbers: we spent $864 on gas last year. Average through June was $52, average the last half of the year was $92/month. (This excludes some road trips where I classified the gas purchases as travel expenses.) It was $43 in January of this year. We're getting better at combining errands- I use a fitness center every day and it's next to a grocery store, and I have to drive through town so the Post Office and the library are on the way. Not a big chunk of the budget but it's gonna hurt if/when the price of gas goes back up.

 

[scrabbler1]

I drive very little so gas prices have a very small impact on my budget. I'll spend about $300 a year on gas this year. That being said, it's nice being able to spend well under $30 to fill my tank even if I fill it once every 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[Mulligan]

A big debate on another thread is centered on oil stocks and trading the oil bust etc. Got me thinking....

How much did I spend over the last few years for fuel on average. And with low gasoline and propane (or NAT gas) prices so low how much money in budget is freed up to chase other things ....

I averaged 1400/year for propane which is looking like it's now around 900 at current rates

I averaged $4500 per year for gasoline which now, looks closer to be closer to $3000 per year.

So my savings is looking at around $2000 per year. Not huge savings but the dining out and hobby budget as well as travel budget goes up as a result.

So... Curious how much you're saving. I'm not counting the deflation of other products. Maybe you've seen prices down on other products leading to budget relief. If so.. What products (eg. Your plastics hobby or what ever.... Just made that up).

Gas hit $1.39 here. Cheapest I've seen in years.

It appears to me this price downturn has been way more noticeable for you, than for me. And since you use propane, Papa, you deserve the break. I used to have that propane, and I always viewed them as thieves ready and willing to gouge you at a moments notice. And they just loved to sell you the stuff in winter when they could soak you.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[John Galt III]

I cash-for-clunkered my beloved Caprice Classic comfo-guzzler back when gas prices were high, and bought a Nissan Versa which is somewhat of a gas miser, and I only drive about 2,000 to 3,000 miles a year, so not much savings for me. But in a twisted attempt to cash in on low gas prices, I am now buying way too much craft beer (only when it's on sale) and I'm running out of room in the basement. Cheaper trips to beer store with cheap gas.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I may spend $1K a year on gasoline/e85.


We have 3 vehicles and a golf cart. The 3 vehicles get driven about 10K miles a year, between them.

 

[imoldernu]

We no longer track expenses. Every 2 or 3 months, we check our bank balance. It's no longer a problem because our spending has been almost level over the past five years.
So no number for gas expense, though miles are well below 2K. Filled up 2 days ago @ $1.21/gal.

 

[arky]

Last year I spent $970 dollars on gasoline for two vehicles.

 

[jkern]

I consume about 65 to 70 gallons per month. When I was commuting to work and belonged to a golf club out of the area, I was consuming about 100 gallons per month.

Gas here is around $2.25 to $2.50 per gallon.

 

[W2R]

Below is my annual spending on gasoline, to the penny, for seven years. In January 2010 I replaced my Solara with a Venza. In November 2009 I retired. I only lived 1.5 miles from work.

Obviously I don't drive much and didn't even when I was still working. Eventually during retirement I started driving more for no reason at all, just because I thought it would be good for the Venza to get "exercised". Now I take it on pleasure drives around town several times each week. Also in 2012 I drove more than usual because we evacuated to Alabama for Hurricane Isaac.

But notice how much my gasoline cost went down last year! Pretty cool.

Year | Work Status | Annual gasoline spending | Annual natural gas
2015 | .. retired| ..$600.44|..$444.52
2014 | .. retired| ..$897.83|..$464.28
2013 | .. retired| ..$965.24|..$380.12
2012 | .. retired| ..$972.96|..$359.41
2011 | .. retired| ..$543.29|..$421.87
2010 | .. retired| ..$292.26|..$474.16
2009 | .. working | .. $177.47|..$359.94

 

[LOL!]

In 2015, we spent $600.60 for natural gas for heat, hot water, clothes dryer.
In 2014, it was $775.70.

In 2015, gasoline for cars was $1137.47 which included snacks bought at gas stations.

All numbers from credit card summaries or auto-billpay.

I guess we didn't save much money from lower prices.

 

[eastnortheast]

We are a two car family. Not yet retired. Live in a semi rural area, so nothing is real close. Below is just commuting and regular family "limo" type stuff.

2013 = $5600
2014 = $6000
2015 = $3700

 

[rodi]

I live in a state with expensive gas. My kids attend a magnet school that is 10 miles away - and I drive them ONE way (they take the bus the other way)... so that's a given 100miles/week (r/t 20 miles *5 days/week). We have 2 vehicles - a 95 Dodge Ram PU that is driven less than 50 miles/month. And a 2006 Toyota Highlander Hybrid that is the main driver for DH and myself.

Last year auto fuel: 1372.93 (First full year of retirement.)
2014: 2393.32 (Both DH and I had commutes AND we were driving son both ways to school - so 200 miles/week just schlepping the kid.)

YTD for 2016: 165.71


Our utility bills are combo natural gas and electric. They break it down on the bill - but I don't record that information. Our heat and cooking is Nat Gas.

 

[House Divided]

We have 2001 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel used to pull 5th wheel RV, 2006 Chevy Colorado, and a 2013 Chevy Equinox for vehicles and we have a Boat, SeaDoo and Lawn Equipment. We purchase all gas/diesel on one CC, makes it easy to track. Since we retired in 2012 we have been lots of road trips but none over 500 miles one way.

As far as heating gas, we used all LP Gas until June of 2012 when we installed Natural Gas and converted our hot water heater and heater in basement. We still had LP gas in the 500 gal tank from the last time we filled up tank in 2011, so we left our gas logs in the living room on LP until it ran out this past January. So now we are 100% on Natural Gas.

Here are our annual expenses:

Year Status Gas LP/Nat Gas
2010 Working 3,704 1,244
2011 Working 3,614 1,337
2012 Retired 3,764 100
2013 Retired 3,771 526
2014 Retired 3,857 575
2015 Retired 3,367 506

 

[Gumby]

Yearly Gumby household spending on gasoline:

2012 $3364.67
2013 $3427.81
2014 $3199.17
2015 $2170.33

Same lineup of cars and same commuting patterns for each of these years.

 

[Fedup]

Natural gas less than $25 a month, it could be much less some months, I do remember $12 on some bills. So I think $300 max for natural gas.
Gasoline is another matter, when we were working with long commute, it's probably $50 a week, so it's about $2500-$3000, give and take. Now that we retire, we spend very little. I have not need to fill out the tank for tow weeks, so I say half of what it was before, $1250-$1500 max.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum