Holy Gas Prices, Batman!

Have you seen the gas prices lately? What a silly question! Of course you have.

Have you noticed that they are starting to go down? I sure hope so!

I was actually anticipating this decline because I heard on the news recently that the average price for a gallon of gas would be around $3.50 by Labor Day. Did you ever think you would be so happy to buy a gallon of gas for $3.50? Me neither, but I am now.

So, yesterday, as I was spending precious money on gasoline, driving from store to store to store, spending more money, all the while contemplating if I needed/wanted this or that, I noticed this family of 4: mom, dad, son, and daughter, putting on bicycle helmets and unlocking their bikes from the bike rack located outside of the local grocery store. I don't know why I stopped and watched, but I did. They had ridden to the store together, shopped together, and were on their way home together, all without spending any money on gasoline. What a great idea, I thought to myself, while at the same time realizing how much I wasn't willing to sacrifice to save some money. Was that really me or did I just need a push in the right direction?

The more I thought about what I had witnessed, the more pluses I realized there were. The family was not only saving money on gas, they were spending time together, they were exercising without the stigma of exercising, and they were SMILING and LAUGHING. How fun is that?

Now I realize that not everyone lives in a community or city where riding your bike or walking everywhere is feasible. However, have you even thought about it? Think about how many little trips you take here and there. Would it be possible to plan better to turn your little trips into one big trip, thus saving time and money? Could you have ridden your bike or walked instead?

These are just small ideas that could turn into big money savers with a little planning and patience. You could even lose a few pounds along the way.

I will leave you with this final thought to see what lengths you would consider going in order to save a little money and be good to yourself.

I found a website called 1 World 2 Wheels, where people are pledging to go by bike instead of car. As of this post, the counter on the website indicated that 7,351,164 miles had been pledged to be ridden by bike by 22,341 people, which is equivalent to 7,130,629 pounds of CO2 reduced, 345,504,708 calories burned, and $1,617,256 saved on gas. Just think how those numbers could continue to increase if everyone just pledged to ride a few miles to the store, to work, or to a friend's house, instead of driving.

Oh, the Money We Could Save!
(I know, a little play on words with Dr. Seuss, but who better to play on words with?)