“I do a lot of running: for personal family errands like baseball games, visiting my mother in the senior living facility, shopping, paying bills and other routine activities.

“One thing I’ve nearly cut out of my lifestyle is the occasional relaxing cruise through the country or some quiet area to calm my spirit or spend a leisurely time with the grandchildren. ...

“I also try to make the most out of each run and tend to do fewer runs but accomplish more. That is very tiring, as I feel like a gerbil on one of those little running wheels.

“I also liked the thought of boycotting the big oil producers in hopes of making a statement. I do boycott on the days which seem to spring up out of some grass-roots effort with word spreading by e-mail, phone and other daily communications; however, I also conduct my continual private boycott by refusing to purchase gas more than three times in one week and limiting the quantity when gas reaches an exorbitant price.

“I also try to hold off for lower prices and rationalize passing at $3.49 a gallon by saying if I hold out until tomorrow, it will be down a nickel or so. Sometimes I’m right. Sometimes I’m painfully in error.”

— Judi Turpen, Anderson (Picture is possible, not set-up yet)



“I have ordered a (Toyota) Prius and can’t wait to get it (next month). The test drive was so exciting, since it does not use gas when you are idling at a traffic light or waiting to make a left-hand turn. I have never been this excited about a car purchase. In the past, to me, a car was a car.

“As for saving money now (pre-Prius), my grandchildren, children, parents and brother live in the Fisher/Carmel/Noblesville area. I used to take the granddaughters to school occasionally, drive home to Pendleton and then drive back to Hamilton County to pick up my grandson or similar scenarios. Now I stay in the Hamilton County area all day, shop there, visit other family members and don’t come home until the end of the day.

“When I have an appointment in Anderson, I save shopping and errands for those days. Long gone are the days that I run to Anderson for one or two items. If I can wait and coordinate my trips with my husband’s errands, that is even better.”

— Diana Adams-Hilger, Pendleton (No picture)



“I have a Chevy Avalanche, which I love until I go to the gas pump. Thankfully, I do much of my work in my home office instead of traveling to Indy, like I used to six years ago. Since the truck is paid for, and I do like it, I look for other ways to save money:

1. I plan trips and errands to combine several stops on the same trip. We also shop local and Noblesville stores more often instead of going to Indy to shop.

2. I watch gas prices and use the Internet to find low local prices using www.gasbuddy.com. (The Herald Bulletin does a daily gas price check; new prices are posted in the morning Monday-Friday and in the afternoon on weekends.) I won’t drive out of my way to save 10 cents per gallon. But if I know I have to go to Pendleton or other towns, I check to see if their prices are lower and fill up before I head home. Stations typically jump their prices during the Tuesday-through-Thursday period, so I watch prices closely those days.

3. We use our higher-mileage family car more often for errands or small local trips, and park the truck.

4. We try to keep all our vehicles in good mechanical condition, such as clean filters and correct tire pressure.

5. I don’t brake suddenly or gun it from a dead stop, and I try to stay close to the speed limit.

6. In the end, if we really want to go somewhere either for entertainment or to see relatives, we won’t let the high prices stop us from going.”

— Thomas Kuhn, Anderson (No picture)



“We have changed our lives somewhat with gas prices. We have horses, and our kids are involved with 4-H. We have not been to as many horse shows and don’t always attend the meeting with horses in tow with gas prices being high.

“Price also led to less trail-riding, even locally. We spend more time riding at the new Strawtown place and would love to find places like Mounds reopen for horse riding. We wonder what the laws says about riding the horses in town as a means of public transportation (Editor’s note: No law prohibits it.), because it would make tons of sense at least to us, but no place is very equine friendly, no hitchin’ posts or corrals.

“Until recently, I worked about two minutes away from my house, but now it will be a little longer drive as my business moved from Greenbriar school to First United Methodist Church at 12th and Jackson streets. I had entertained the idea of riding a bike to work, but not with that type of ride now. The good news is my husband works at 16th and Locust streets, so we can probably share a ride more now.

“My friend and I love to shop at garage sales when the weather is nice, but we choose ones closer to home now or areas that have multiple sales.

“We are looking to buy a house with some acreage in the Frankton school district, and we used to drive around and look for houses for sale. Now we rely mainly on the homes magazine or word-of-mouth.”

— Shelley Fridley, Anderson (Picture in the works)







Why won’t some people change their habits?



“We don’t go out of town much, but (our driving habits) are pretty much the same. I have two pickup trucks, but I just use them for shopping and going to see family. Don’t go just ride around for fun. You used to see that all the time.

“My wide drives to Pendleton for work, which is a lot closer than when she used to work in Fishers. You still have to go where you have to go.”

— Tim Likens, Anderson (No Picture)







“I haven’t changed my driving habits at all. I’m from Chicago, where gas is often 25 cents more (per gallon). I hate the prices but they don’t affect my driving too much. I do always look for the cheapest station though.”

— Brian Mack (No picture), Anderson



Compiled by

GABRIEL KHOULI

gabe.khouli@heraldbulletin.com