$1.95 a gallon

By Bill Korbel

Yesterday was a great day.  I  found gas for less then $2.00 a gallon and filled up for less then 30 bucks.  That's the first time gas been that low since January 2005.  Almost 3 years ago. 

I have a small book in my car and enter maintenance, oil changes, and fuel purchases,  so, I can easily look back and see trends in car operation or in this case, fuel prices.

On January 1st, 2002 I filled my tank for $1.15 a gallon.  On July 1st of this year I paid $4.30 a gallon. That's $3.15 more per gallon.  An increase of over 300%.   Ouch!  That really hurt. Actually the average from January 2004 to January 2007 was a fairly reasonable $2.30 a gallon.  But 2007 started off with gas at $3.15 and it only went up from there reaching a max late this summer before thankfully taking a nose dive back to the first sub $2 a gallon price since early 2004.

My wallet certainly will benefit from cheaper gas,  but the trick now is not to fall back into bad habits because you know this is not going to last.  There is only so much oil in the ground and it is inevitable that the price will start to climb again back to the painful levels of August.  Think of this as a gift but let's not take our mind off the goal of smaller and more efficient vehicles and other forms of energy.  I have always considered gas efficiency when buying cars and I am still leaning towards getting a hybrid when I buy my next car. Fool me once, same on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.