A Blog About My Life’s Lessons

I read this article on yahoo.com that talked about gas prices rising to $4 a gallon in some places by summer. The rising gas to date really haven’t effected our plan budgeted activities because YTD its only gone up ~6-10%.  Over the weekend, I saw prices at $3.12/gallon here in Austin.  However, if prices continue to rise and we do hit $4, we might have to start cutting back on our consumption. My guess is we aren’t alone, which will put a damper on the economy for sure. 

Here is the data. We currently spend about ~$250 on gas/month (assuming no trips). If prices go up 33% (from $3 to $4), then we are talking about a monthly gas bill of about $333. That’s an increase $83/month which translates to ~$800+ in my gas budget.  That will definitely eat into any fudge that I have in my budget. I guess next year, assuming similar conditions, I will need to budget more for gas to absorb the price increases.

This is definitely a lesson learned in inflation and budgeting.