It's usually not like that but I guess yesterday was not usual. Another driver blasted his horn as he went past, when I was already hugging the white line and no shoulder available.
Must be your area. We have a lot of bicycles on our country roads here. Especially weekend riders. Some sections have the white line with a couple feet of pavement. Mostly the bike riders share the roads. If you have to slow down to pass them safely, I have not seen any animosity shown. I rode my bike all the time in Kona HI. Never had anyone honk at me. And the main stretch I used was Alii Dr. very narrow two lane road. Maybe the high price of gas has struck home to a lot of commuters that are jealous of your saving gas. Be careful....
Wood pellets are made from sawdust, and because of the building slump, there's a big shortage of sawdust for making the pellets, with a corresponding rise in prices. Sawdust goes into lots of stuff it seems - it's even affecting (wait for it - a topical reference, lol) - car prices!
"Auto-parts manufacturers blend a finely pulverized sawdust called "wood flour" with plastic polymers to make a lightweight material to cover steering wheels and dashboards." (WSJ paid link)
My neighbors have a wood stove and the neighborhood smells like a forest fire on cold days. I sure hope they're keeping their chimney clean!
My electric rates have been steady for years. There is a slight increase in my bill the winter, a big drop in spring, a significant but not unreasonable increase in the summer with the A/C, and a big drop in the fall.
I wouldn't say the increase in fuel or heating prices has affected my ability to pay my mortgage, utility bills, or run up my credit cards, but I have cut back on discretionary spending like entertainment.
my favorite was riding in the bed of my uncle's pickup, in town.
We rode in the back of a PU truck as much as we did a car back in the 1950s. I used to love our trips to the desert camping. All the gear was in the bed of the truck. We would hollow out a place to lay back there and just enjoy the ride and the fresh air. None of us kids wanted to ride in front with the adults.
Fast forward to 2008. We took another couple and made a trip to the Anza Borrego desert yesterday in our Sequoia. It is a GREAT vehicle for driving down those rutted sandy side roads out into the desert. The flowers were in full bloom and it was great. It probably cost me about $60 in gas at the current $3.59 at Shell. Cheaper than a round of golf. It all depends on what you enjoy doing. The other couple paid for our meals and it was about a wash. I cannot think of a vehicle that would do any better for any less. The people in their cars along the highway could only guess how much beauty they were missing not being able to get away from the crowds.
PS I bought it cash. If I cannot save up to buy a vehicle I will keep what I have.
Yes I'm thinking that electric rates have been fairly steady, at least compared to the price increases that affect the oil-market. I'd believe that during the last 10 years electric rates might have gone up 25%, the price of heating oil has gone up 300%
We recently had our electric rates jacked up. They were projected to shoot up something like 50% in 2006, but then that got phased in over two years, with a partial in 2006, and the remainder kicking in June 2007. Once you factor in all the tack-on fees and such, our electric comes out to about 15 cents per kilowatt hour.
People were whining about it, and carrying on about the big bad electric companies gouging us, but the truth was, the rates had been held artificially low for too long. My first electric bill was back in late 1994/early 1995, after I had bought my condo, and I remember it came out to about 9 cents per KW. So we're talking about a 66% increase, over the course of 13 years! Not so bad when we put it in that perspective.
I moved into my house in late 2003, and got a contract with the oil company. That first year, it was $1.19 per gallon. Now, a little over 4 years later, it's $3.55 per gallon, about a 200% increase!
I am seriously thinking about switching to a heat pump. Even though it doesn't put out the same nice, toasty heat that oil does (or natural gas or propane, I guess), I'm sure it'll be a lot cheaper in the long run as oil prices continue to climb. Plus, it would be nice to have central air conditioning, so I don't have to deal with lugging these danged window units in and out every spring and fall. And it would be nice to get rid of the oil tank and the little room that houses it...or just use that room for storage I guess.
My neighbors have a wood stove and the neighborhood smells like a forest fire on cold days. I sure hope they're keeping their chimney clean!
Southern CA is outlawing wood burning stoves and fireplaces. You can get a $500 fine in some areas on certain days for burning wood in your home. Several of my neighbors use wood to heat their homes. Dead Wood is very plentiful since the last two fires killed so many trees. Not sure if the trend will spread to San Diego county or not. Seems a bit repressive. San Francisco claims wood smoke from fireplaces produces the most particulate matter in the area.
My neighbors have a wood stove and the neighborhood smells like a forest fire on cold days. I sure hope they're keeping their chimney clean!
Wood stoves can be a nuisance in a populated area. It's one thing to be out in the middle of no where (like where I grew up) and heat with it or even have a "recreational" fireplace, but in the middle of the suburbs, it's just plain annoying. Not much better than buring a pile of leaves in your yard. In our neighborhood, which is a new one, they thankfully required all the builders to use gas fireplaces if they chose to put in a fireplace. No wood burning was allowed.
Be do have a cabin that uses a pellet stove besides also having a furnace. That is an entirely different form of wood burning, though. You can see heat waves coming out of the chimney but no spoke. It burns incredibly clean. The chimney rarely if ever needs cleaning and the ash tray has about two cups of ash from burning a 40 or 50 pound bag of pellets (which takes about 30 hours of continuas burning to use up). I've never smelled any smoky smell from it when I'm outside and it's running.
Every now and then there will be an article or TV news story about towns or cities having major air pollution from wood burning stoves. Again, these are stoves that heat the whole house as a primary means of heat and not from the occasional fireplace type use. It mainly impacts towns that are in valleys with mountains holding in the smoke. The air quality can be worse that a bad day of LA smog.
I'm out in what's still a fairly rural area, and every once in awhile someone starts a fire in their fireplace or wood stove. It kind of gives a nice aura to the neighborhood, sort of like Christmas Eve at Walnut Grove or something. Now of course, if EVERYBODY started lighting up, it wouldn't be so nice.
My house used to have a wood burning stove in what is now the livingroom. Once upon a time, I think that was its only source of heat! About 10 years ago, my uncle and I tore down an addition to one of the outbuildings that was about to come down on its own, and we found some coal on the dirt floor, so I'm guessing at some point in time, my house had a coal furnace or stove, or something.
There was once a type of furnace called a parlor stove which was about 5/8 as tall as a refrigerator and about as wide and finished in brown enamel. It usually burned anthracite coal and had a galvanized pipe running from it to the chimney. A grate in the ceiling above it would allow the heat to go upstairs. A lot of older homes would have both a coal stove for cooking and heating and a parlor stove to supplement it. When both were going, it got quite toasty. My great-grandparents' homes were like this. I believe the rather large coal stove in the kitchen had a boiler behind it to provide hot water to the house.
Going to great-grandmom's house was like stepping back in time to the 1920s-40s. Not only did she have both the coal stove and the parlor stove, but one of those huge console radios, a GE refrigerator with the motor on top, and a washing machine with a wringer.
Seems the weak dollar is the reason why gasoline/diesel prices are so high despite a greater supply. I guess this is what we get for sending all our manufacturing/money overseas. Our "Wal~Mart dollars" don't buy as much as they used to. Geeze, maybe we should just blow it all while we can still get something for our fiat currency or start buying gold.
I don't think great-grandmom, (my maternal grandfather's mother) ever had a car nor did her husband. My other great-grandparents, (my maternal grandmother's parents) had a 1939 Chevrolet sedan and my Dad's father had a 1937 Dodge truck back in the day.
There was once a type of furnace called a parlor stove which was about 5/8 as tall as a refrigerator and about as wide and finished in brown enamel. It usually burned anthracite coal and had a galvanized pipe running from it to the chimney. A grate in the ceiling above it would allow the heat to go upstairs.
I wonder if my house once had a setup like that, then? There is a grate on the floor of the front bedroom, which is directly above where the wood stove used to sit in what's now the living room. It's been covered over by ceiling tiles in the living room, but upstairs, the vent is still there in the hardwood floor. There's also a vent in the kitchen ceiling that leads up to the back bedroom.
Well here in Central Florida diesel just hit $4 per gallon!!! Every one of the 3 local staions is charging $3.999. Not really much benefit of getting a diesel for the higher MPG with the 20-30% extra cost. Gasoline will be next !!!
Is it about a 12" x 12" grate with 3/4" square openings? If so, it's likely your place once had a parlor stove. Other evidence would be a plastered-over opening in the chimney or a decorative metal cover about the size of a paper plate covering the former opening.
Well since high gas prices have been a drag on the economy, and the interest rate on my money-market has been lowered because of Fed cuts, and the stock market isn't doing so well, my income this year will be down. So I filled out a new tax withholding form today to compensate, and I'll get $50 more per month in my check. That'll more than pay for gas increases, as I commute 8 miles roundtrip.
So I filled out a new tax withholding form today to compensate, and I'll get $50 more per month in my check. That'll more than pay for gas increases, as I commute 8 miles roundtrip.
On a similar note, I just got my paystub today, and after taxes got about 10 bucks more than I thought I would. Did the new 2008 tax brackets just kick in, or something? It seems like the state and federal withholdings were just a little bit less.
Yeah Lemko, that describes these grates to a tee. The floor grate has louvers in it that you can open and close. And there is an opening in the chimney, which is closed off. I know it was used for the wood stove, but it was probably there long before that wood stove was used, as that was just in the 1980's.
While I agree that gas prices are high I'm actually surprised that they aren't higher given that oil is $110/barrel. That's $40 a barrel more than last May yet the wholesale price of gas has maybe gone up a dime. There's a little disconnect going on right now between oil and gas prices. Given the current price of oil the gas prices should be about 40-50 cents higher. The refineries and retailers must not be making anything right now.
"While I agree that gas prices are high I'm actually surprised that they aren't higher given that oil is $110/barrel. That's $40 a barrel more than last May yet the wholesale price of gas has maybe gone up a dime. There's a little disconnect going on right now between oil and gas prices. Given the current price of oil the gas prices should be about 40-50 cents higher. The refineries and retailers must not be making anything right now. "
You are 1000% right!!! A guy on Fox news just said that the price of gas is going up $0.30 a gallon next month. According to the analyst the refineries have been eating part of the high oil costs, and that it's going to be passed on to consumers in April. Supposedly a $0.30 per gallon raise in prices will only bring the refineries to break even. He said that gas should be running about $0.40 a gallon more compared to what the price of oil is right now.
The pump finally stopped at $97.20, which put 24.5 gallons in his Chevrolet Avalanche.
A lot of the locals in Hawaii drive full size trucks. That has to be tough at $4 per gollon. Last April in Hilo the price was lower than CA at $2.16 per gallon. That was a first for me. Not sure what to expect this April. The islands do have a good biodiesel producer. I wonder what he is getting for the his product. He was making money under $3 per gallon.
I'm not doing anything different if gas goes above $4/gal.
Why? Because I was already trying to conserve gas. I have a 2yr old Honda Fit that can get 40mpg and a Ford Freestyle that can get nearly 30mpg, both highway MPG if I keep my speed at 65mph. I probably average 25mpg in the Freeestyle and 35mpg in the Fit, or lets say 30mpg combined. And driving 30,000 miles/year combined for both cars equals 1000 gal per year, so for every $1 gas goes up costs me $1000/year, or about $20/week. Not peanuts, but not a huge amount that our budget can't absorb.
And if you consider fuel cost as part of an overall transportation cost, then in addition to fuel cost, there's the cost of the vehicle, insurance, maintenance, and repairs. So people may want to look at their overall transportation cost, of which gas is one component. The Fit only cost $15K new and the Freestyle $23K new, so I've saved on overall transportation costs as compared to someone buying a $35K big vehicle and a $25K sedan. Both my cars combined are less than what a lot of folks spend on their high-end minivan, CUV or SUV.
Another component is vehicle use. Even though I could probably get better MPG with a Civic or Corolla then a Fit, since the Fit has more cargo space I can use the Fit for trips instead of the Freestyle. If I would have bought a Civic/Corolla then the bigger car would have been used more, thus eliminating the slight MPG advantage of the Civic/Corolla over the Fit.
Anyway, if you think about these things all the time and not just reacting when gas prices shoot up, then there is no need to do anything different when they do shoot up because you're already managing your transportations costs effectively.
It's sort of like living in a healthy manner, eating right and keeping in shape versus waiting until you're 50lbs overweight and then suddenly deciding to crash diet and spend a bunch of money on exercise equipment.
Nope the falling value of the US$ has nothing to do with where we spend our money or what we spend it on.
It only has to do with the fact that almost all of us are spending our future earnings today. The access to easy credit is what increases the money supply. It doesn't matter whether you give it to GM or to Wal-Mart or to Toyota or to the local plumber. As long as everyone only spends what they actually make in a year and nothing extra then the money supply can't get out of balance.
It's only when the Fed and the banking system give us easy money to spend on whatever do-dads and junk we need that extra money is printed. This increases the money supply and decreases the value of each dollar. Reign in credit and you'll see the US$ start to climb again...but we'll also go into a crashing recession/depression. but we'll all be better for it.
Well, that brings up the whole housing mess subject. Fortunately, I bought my house before things got out of whack. My combined monthly mortgage/property tax/homeowner's insurance doesn't even crack the $1,000 barrier.
Yep this makes the situation worse since so many people are 'upside-down' in their homes. Not only is easy credit spending our future earnings but easy access to home equity has spent all the future growth in value of many of the homes in the nation.
That's a double whammy.
Then strike three on the money supply. Consider all the people that became real and paper millionaires on their investments in the 90s. Were these profits real? To an extent yes but it also created sudden wealth which was spendable. Take the 'Redmond Millionaires' who suddenly were able buy like they've never bought in their lives. Picture a $25000 a year maintenance worker suddenly having a million bucks in the bank generating $50000 in interest annually? Helloooo.
Exactly...some folks bought their homes under the assumption that in a few years they'd go up so much in value that they could pay interest-only for a couple of years and bought more house then they could afford, assuming they could refinance or sell in a couple of years for a big profit. If they would have gone with a 30yr fixed, saved money for a good sized downpayment and only bought what they could afford today, there wouldn't be this housing mess.
And these same people are probably also crying because they have a giant SUV in their driveway with terrible MPG that's also worth less than their loan balance. Not saying that we shouldn't help these folks, but any financial help they get should have a future payback requirement and not just a free ride until the next time they do something stupid.
Reign in credit and you'll see the US$ start to climb again...but we'll also go into a crashing recession/depression. but we'll all be better for it.
It has to happen sooner or later. Lowering the interest just adds to the problem. I have friends that may lose their homes because of shady lending. And poor planning on their part. Too bad our schools do not teach common sense economics. Kid turns 18 and here comes a credit card application in the mail.
We are bringing up a generation of Mall Rats. There is only one economic lesson being taught and that is spending. Schools do not teach reality economics...it seems most learn the hard way.
Do not spend what you don't have. Spend a little less than you make.
No kidding. I guess I'm just a bit cold at heart, but I don't see why my tax money should be used to bail out someone who is over their head in a house. Granted, if they can prove the lender used fraudulent lending practices, then some help should be provided.
But for the majority who saw interest only/ARMs as a way to get the house of their dreams, then sorry, let them foreclose the house. Last I checked the constitution doesn't state all citizens have a right to own their home.
Gagrice, your right on the money. It's sad that many people don't understand how compounding interest/amortization works. They just see a monthly payment that they can afford completely disregarding the actual total cost those payments.
Ironically vehicles are the source of money troubles for many. Many are screaming about the cost of gas, but give very little importance on what really costs them. Paying interest, taxes, insurance, etc, on a depreciating asset. Considering all of that, the fuel cost in my Suburban is small.
We are going to my in-laws this weekend. It's about a 300mile round trip. We can take my wifes GrandPrix (which we hate) getting 25mpg or my Suburban (much more room and less fighting between the kids) and get 16mpg on the same trip. Hmm, it will cost about $41 to drive the GP and be uncomfortable vs. $64 in the Suburban riding comfort not to mention less fighting of the kids. I'll gladly pay the extra $23.
Oh, I don't know. Their economy is quite impressive for an island nation the size of, say, Florida.
The top ten economies of the world in 2004 and their respective values in millions of US dollars, after China's new tally.
Country US Million $ United States 11,667,515 Japan 4,623,398 Germany 2,714,418 United Kingdom 2,140,898 France 2,002,582 China 1,981,000 Italy 1,672,302 Spain 991,442 Canada 929,764 India 691,876
I find it amazing how many people make choices to live so far from work, whether it be they don't like a neighborhood or the schools, or the housing prices. Or even take the job in the 1st place. I know there are exceptional reasons in some cases. This was not the case for many generations in the U.S., it's probably only been true the last 30 years or so.
But if fuel prices stay high, then there will have to be adjustments. Employers in high cost areas will either have to pay workers more, or relocate to lower cost areas where housing is affordable. And people will have to stop making the choice that "I like this town" and I'm going to take a job 60 miles away.
If people lived closer to work: 1) less gas overall would be burned, 2) people would drive less meaning less congestion, and 3) biking and such becomes an option at least for some or in certain good weather.
I also think that 5 day 8hr work-days, could be changed to 4 day 10 hr in many sorts of jobs. I know my job could transition to a 4 day week, if my company didn't have the mind-set that for fairness or normality everyone had to work 5 days.
it'll be warm enough to swap out the air cleaner top of my '85 Silverado, which is pie shaped, for a Dodge Dart air cleaner top, which is flat. That seems to help it breathe better, and seems to help boost economy slightly.
I wonder, do those aftermarket air intake kits for modern cars really do much for mpg and performance? Or is it just a gimmick? I think they make them for the Intrepid.
I have little hope the current under 25 generation will survive after their parent's money is depleted.
I was raised in an era of spending what you have after you earn it. When credit debt was a write-off I could justify wasting the money on interest. Now I only buy real estate on credit that can be written off. I will not be part of making the bankers wealthy.
"do those aftermarket air intake kits for modern cars really do much for mpg and performance"
I can imagine they might help performance at wide open throttle (less air resistance) but I don't understand why anything on the 'upstream' side of the throttle body on a modern FI engine would affect economy. If the engine's getting the right air:fuel ratio, it shouldn't matter if the filter or throttle is the source of a small amount of resistance.
No kidding on the commute. But in some cities you don't have much choice, like Chicago. My MIL lives in NW Indiana and works in downtown Chicago. I don't know how she does it, but she gets up at 4am every morning and doesn't get home until around 7pm M-F. With Chicago traffic it sometime takes over 2 hours for her to get to her office. She does carpool, but still I couldn't do that commute day in and day out.
We almost got transferred to Chicago and we would have been in the same boat. Housing around the Deerfield area is outrageous. $400k (+ high property taxes)nets a very modest house. Go out 30+ miles and you can save over $100k on the house and less property taxes. So pick your poison, expensive housing or commuting.
Property taxes are getting way out of line in many areas. We are paying $8k/yr on a $350-$400k house in central Illinois. The monthly cost of the property taxes alone is more than the rent on our first apartment when we got married 12 years ago.
Property taxes are getting way out of line in many areas. We are paying $8k/yr on a $350-$400k house in central Illinois.
Okay, now I'm not going to whine about the $3K I had to pay in property taxes last year. I found an old property tax bill from 1961 on my place, and way back then, it was only $200 per year!
The house next door to me is assessed for almost three times what my place is, mainly because it's newer (2000 versus 1916), and bigger. So I wonder if that would mean their taxes are pushing $9K?! :surprise:
I wonder, do those aftermarket air intake kits for modern cars really do much for mpg and performance?
It depends. A true CAI that goes down in the fender well or bumper will draw in cooler air, while the short ram pop-charger style is just louder (they are less restrictive but they also draw in warmer air).
Paying interest, taxes, insurance, etc, on a depreciating asset. Considering all of that, the fuel cost in my Suburban is small.
The difference in Insurance between my new Sequoia and my 2005 Passat was $450 per year. The insurance money I save owning the Sequoia will buy all my gas for a year at $3.50 per gallon. I rarely put more than 7500 miles in a year. Before people buy a little econobox they should find out how much insurance will be. It will probably surprise many. Trucks and SUVs are generally less per year than cars.
remember last week, I mentioned my coworker with the '04 Tundra 4.7? Well, he did end up trading it, and now has an '09 Corolla S. He says he loves it...so far, so good. I dunno how much he paid for it, but I think the MSRP was around $19.5K. I didn't realize Corollas were getting that expensive!
Yeah... I wish the car makers would get on the ball with this kind of stuff. Check out my past 2 blogs and you will see what I mean. It deals with electric cars, that I built 8 years ago... and the rediculously priced 300hp EV Mustang.
I mean, whats the point of saving money on gas, if I have to sell my soul to get an EV or hybrid that looks like my grandma designed, Ford Festiva (Smart Car), and is a rolling death trap?
If I have the money to spend on a high dollar bad [non-permissible content removed] EV... Im not gonna be worried about saving the pocket change its going to cost me to run a petrol vechicle.
Japan may have a big economy, but look at their stock market. The Nikkei was at 40,000 in 1990 and is currently at 1986 levels. In comparison the Dow has tripled since 1986.
We can take my wifes GrandPrix (which we hate) getting 25mpg or my Suburban
What do you have? 3 kids? But there are options other than a suburban. My Freestyle hold 4 kids in carseats and will get 27mpg driving 70mph on the highway. And there are quite a few new CUVs that will do at least as well as your GrandPrix on gas.
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Must be your area. We have a lot of bicycles on our country roads here. Especially weekend riders. Some sections have the white line with a couple feet of pavement. Mostly the bike riders share the roads. If you have to slow down to pass them safely, I have not seen any animosity shown. I rode my bike all the time in Kona HI. Never had anyone honk at me. And the main stretch I used was Alii Dr. very narrow two lane road. Maybe the high price of gas has struck home to a lot of commuters that are jealous of your saving gas. Be careful....
"Auto-parts manufacturers blend a finely pulverized sawdust called "wood flour" with plastic polymers to make a lightweight material to cover steering wheels and dashboards." (WSJ paid link)
My electric rates have been steady for years. There is a slight increase in my bill the winter, a big drop in spring, a significant but not unreasonable increase in the summer with the A/C, and a big drop in the fall.
I wouldn't say the increase in fuel or heating prices has affected my ability to pay my mortgage, utility bills, or run up my credit cards, but I have cut back on discretionary spending like entertainment.
We rode in the back of a PU truck as much as we did a car back in the 1950s. I used to love our trips to the desert camping. All the gear was in the bed of the truck. We would hollow out a place to lay back there and just enjoy the ride and the fresh air. None of us kids wanted to ride in front with the adults.
Fast forward to 2008. We took another couple and made a trip to the Anza Borrego desert yesterday in our Sequoia. It is a GREAT vehicle for driving down those rutted sandy side roads out into the desert. The flowers were in full bloom and it was great. It probably cost me about $60 in gas at the current $3.59 at Shell. Cheaper than a round of golf. It all depends on what you enjoy doing. The other couple paid for our meals and it was about a wash. I cannot think of a vehicle that would do any better for any less. The people in their cars along the highway could only guess how much beauty they were missing not being able to get away from the crowds.
PS
I bought it cash. If I cannot save up to buy a vehicle I will keep what I have.
We recently had our electric rates jacked up. They were projected to shoot up something like 50% in 2006, but then that got phased in over two years, with a partial in 2006, and the remainder kicking in June 2007. Once you factor in all the tack-on fees and such, our electric comes out to about 15 cents per kilowatt hour.
People were whining about it, and carrying on about the big bad electric companies gouging us, but the truth was, the rates had been held artificially low for too long. My first electric bill was back in late 1994/early 1995, after I had bought my condo, and I remember it came out to about 9 cents per KW. So we're talking about a 66% increase, over the course of 13 years! Not so bad when we put it in that perspective.
I moved into my house in late 2003, and got a contract with the oil company. That first year, it was $1.19 per gallon. Now, a little over 4 years later, it's $3.55 per gallon, about a 200% increase!
I am seriously thinking about switching to a heat pump. Even though it doesn't put out the same nice, toasty heat that oil does (or natural gas or propane, I guess), I'm sure it'll be a lot cheaper in the long run as oil prices continue to climb. Plus, it would be nice to have central air conditioning, so I don't have to deal with lugging these danged window units in and out every spring and fall. And it would be nice to get rid of the oil tank and the little room that houses it...or just use that room for storage I guess.
Southern CA is outlawing wood burning stoves and fireplaces. You can get a $500 fine in some areas on certain days for burning wood in your home. Several of my neighbors use wood to heat their homes. Dead Wood is very plentiful since the last two fires killed so many trees. Not sure if the trend will spread to San Diego county or not. Seems a bit repressive. San Francisco claims wood smoke from fireplaces produces the most particulate matter in the area.
Wood stoves can be a nuisance in a populated area. It's one thing to be out in the middle of no where (like where I grew up) and heat with it or even have a "recreational" fireplace, but in the middle of the suburbs, it's just plain annoying. Not much better than buring a pile of leaves in your yard. In our neighborhood, which is a new one, they thankfully required all the builders to use gas fireplaces if they chose to put in a fireplace. No wood burning was allowed.
Be do have a cabin that uses a pellet stove besides also having a furnace. That is an entirely different form of wood burning, though. You can see heat waves coming out of the chimney but no spoke. It burns incredibly clean. The chimney rarely if ever needs cleaning and the ash tray has about two cups of ash from burning a 40 or 50 pound bag of pellets (which takes about 30 hours of continuas burning to use up). I've never smelled any smoky smell from it when I'm outside and it's running.
Every now and then there will be an article or TV news story about towns or cities having major air pollution from wood burning stoves. Again, these are stoves that heat the whole house as a primary means of heat and not from the occasional fireplace type use. It mainly impacts towns that are in valleys with mountains holding in the smoke. The air quality can be worse that a bad day of LA smog.
My house used to have a wood burning stove in what is now the livingroom. Once upon a time, I think that was its only source of heat! About 10 years ago, my uncle and I tore down an addition to one of the outbuildings that was about to come down on its own, and we found some coal on the dirt floor, so I'm guessing at some point in time, my house had a coal furnace or stove, or something.
When we built our place we had propane because we knew the gas lines were coming and it's a simple conversion. It took forever to boil a pot of water!
We passed the $3 regular mark today. Guess we were about the last holdouts.
Going to great-grandmom's house was like stepping back in time to the 1920s-40s. Not only did she have both the coal stove and the parlor stove, but one of those huge console radios, a GE refrigerator with the motor on top, and a washing machine with a wringer.
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20080313_Across_nation__gas_nears- __3_25__oil_a_record__110.html
Seems the weak dollar is the reason why gasoline/diesel prices are so high despite a greater supply. I guess this is what we get for sending all our manufacturing/money overseas. Our "Wal~Mart dollars" don't buy as much as they used to. Geeze, maybe we should just blow it all while we can still get something for our fiat currency or start buying gold.
And she probably grumbled loudly about having to pay 29.9 to fill up the Model T. :shades:
I wonder if my house once had a setup like that, then? There is a grate on the floor of the front bedroom, which is directly above where the wood stove used to sit in what's now the living room. It's been covered over by ceiling tiles in the living room, but upstairs, the vent is still there in the hardwood floor. There's also a vent in the kitchen ceiling that leads up to the back bedroom.
So I filled out a new tax withholding form today to compensate, and I'll get $50 more per month in my check. That'll more than pay for gas increases, as I commute 8 miles roundtrip.
On a similar note, I just got my paystub today, and after taxes got about 10 bucks more than I thought I would. Did the new 2008 tax brackets just kick in, or something? It seems like the state and federal withholdings were just a little bit less.
You are 1000% right!!! A guy on Fox news just said that the price of gas is going up $0.30 a gallon next month. According to the analyst the refineries have been eating part of the high oil costs, and that it's going to be passed on to consumers in April. Supposedly a $0.30 per gallon raise in prices will only bring the refineries to break even. He said that gas should be running about $0.40 a gallon more compared to what the price of oil is right now.
link title
Regards,
OW
A lot of the locals in Hawaii drive full size trucks. That has to be tough at $4 per gollon. Last April in Hilo the price was lower than CA at $2.16 per gallon. That was a first for me. Not sure what to expect this April. The islands do have a good biodiesel producer. I wonder what he is getting for the his product. He was making money under $3 per gallon.
Why? Because I was already trying to conserve gas. I have a 2yr old Honda Fit that can get 40mpg and a Ford Freestyle that can get nearly 30mpg, both highway MPG if I keep my speed at 65mph. I probably average 25mpg in the Freeestyle and 35mpg in the Fit, or lets say 30mpg combined. And driving 30,000 miles/year combined for both cars equals 1000 gal per year, so for every $1 gas goes up costs me $1000/year, or about $20/week. Not peanuts, but not a huge amount that our budget can't absorb.
And if you consider fuel cost as part of an overall transportation cost, then in addition to fuel cost, there's the cost of the vehicle, insurance, maintenance, and repairs. So people may want to look at their overall transportation cost, of which gas is one component. The Fit only cost $15K new and the Freestyle $23K new, so I've saved on overall transportation costs as compared to someone buying a $35K big vehicle and a $25K sedan. Both my cars combined are less than what a lot of folks spend on their high-end minivan, CUV or SUV.
Another component is vehicle use. Even though I could probably get better MPG with a Civic or Corolla then a Fit, since the Fit has more cargo space I can use the Fit for trips instead of the Freestyle. If I would have bought a Civic/Corolla then the bigger car would have been used more, thus eliminating the slight MPG advantage of the Civic/Corolla over the Fit.
Anyway, if you think about these things all the time and not just reacting when gas prices shoot up, then there is no need to do anything different when they do shoot up because you're already managing your transportations costs effectively.
It's sort of like living in a healthy manner, eating right and keeping in shape versus waiting until you're 50lbs overweight and then suddenly deciding to crash diet and spend a bunch of money on exercise equipment.
It only has to do with the fact that almost all of us are spending our future earnings today. The access to easy credit is what increases the money supply. It doesn't matter whether you give it to GM or to Wal-Mart or to Toyota or to the local plumber. As long as everyone only spends what they actually make in a year and nothing extra then the money supply can't get out of balance.
It's only when the Fed and the banking system give us easy money to spend on whatever do-dads and junk we need that extra money is printed. This increases the money supply and decreases the value of each dollar. Reign in credit and you'll see the US$ start to climb again...but we'll also go into a crashing recession/depression. but we'll all be better for it.
That's a double whammy.
Then strike three on the money supply. Consider all the people that became real and paper millionaires on their investments in the 90s. Were these profits real? To an extent yes but it also created sudden wealth which was spendable. Take the 'Redmond Millionaires' who suddenly were able buy like they've never bought in their lives. Picture a $25000 a year maintenance worker suddenly having a million bucks in the bank generating $50000 in interest annually? Helloooo.
And these same people are probably also crying because they have a giant SUV in their driveway with terrible MPG that's also worth less than their loan balance. Not saying that we shouldn't help these folks, but any financial help they get should have a future payback requirement and not just a free ride until the next time they do something stupid.
It has to happen sooner or later. Lowering the interest just adds to the problem. I have friends that may lose their homes because of shady lending. And poor planning on their part. Too bad our schools do not teach common sense economics. Kid turns 18 and here comes a credit card application in the mail.
Do not spend what you don't have. Spend a little less than you make.
Regards,
OW
But for the majority who saw interest only/ARMs as a way to get the house of their dreams, then sorry, let them foreclose the house. Last I checked the constitution doesn't state all citizens have a right to own their home.
Gagrice, your right on the money. It's sad that many people don't understand how compounding interest/amortization works. They just see a monthly payment that they can afford completely disregarding the actual total cost those payments.
Ironically vehicles are the source of money troubles for many. Many are screaming about the cost of gas, but give very little importance on what really costs them. Paying interest, taxes, insurance, etc, on a depreciating asset. Considering all of that, the fuel cost in my Suburban is small.
We are going to my in-laws this weekend. It's about a 300mile round trip. We can take my wifes GrandPrix (which we hate) getting 25mpg or my Suburban (much more room and less fighting between the kids) and get 16mpg on the same trip. Hmm, it will cost about $41 to drive the GP and be uncomfortable vs. $64 in the Suburban riding comfort not to mention less fighting of the kids. I'll gladly pay the extra $23.
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080314_Area_commuters_find_tricks_- to_trim_gas_costs.html
The top ten economies of the world in 2004 and their respective values in millions of US dollars, after China's new tally.
Country US Million $
United States 11,667,515
Japan 4,623,398
Germany 2,714,418
United Kingdom 2,140,898
France 2,002,582
China 1,981,000
Italy 1,672,302
Spain 991,442
Canada 929,764
India 691,876
Regards,
OW
But if fuel prices stay high, then there will have to be adjustments. Employers in high cost areas will either have to pay workers more, or relocate to lower cost areas where housing is affordable. And people will have to stop making the choice that "I like this town" and I'm going to take a job 60 miles away.
If people lived closer to work: 1) less gas overall would be burned, 2) people would drive less meaning less congestion, and 3) biking and such becomes an option at least for some or in certain good weather.
I also think that 5 day 8hr work-days, could be changed to 4 day 10 hr in many sorts of jobs. I know my job could transition to a 4 day week, if my company didn't have the mind-set that for fairness or normality everyone had to work 5 days.
I wonder, do those aftermarket air intake kits for modern cars really do much for mpg and performance? Or is it just a gimmick? I think they make them for the Intrepid.
I was raised in an era of spending what you have after you earn it. When credit debt was a write-off I could justify wasting the money on interest. Now I only buy real estate on credit that can be written off. I will not be part of making the bankers wealthy.
Consequently $4 gas is not an issue.
I can imagine they might help performance at wide open throttle (less air resistance) but I don't understand why anything on the 'upstream' side of the throttle body on a modern FI engine would affect economy. If the engine's getting the right air:fuel ratio, it shouldn't matter if the filter or throttle is the source of a small amount of resistance.
We almost got transferred to Chicago and we would have been in the same boat. Housing around the Deerfield area is outrageous. $400k (+ high property taxes)nets a very modest house. Go out 30+ miles and you can save over $100k on the house and less property taxes. So pick your poison, expensive housing or commuting.
Property taxes are getting way out of line in many areas. We are paying $8k/yr on a $350-$400k house in central Illinois. The monthly cost of the property taxes alone is more than the rent on our first apartment when we got married 12 years ago.
Okay, now I'm not going to whine about the $3K I had to pay in property taxes last year.
The house next door to me is assessed for almost three times what my place is, mainly because it's newer (2000 versus 1916), and bigger. So I wonder if that would mean their taxes are pushing $9K?! :surprise:
It depends. A true CAI that goes down in the fender well or bumper will draw in cooler air, while the short ram pop-charger style is just louder (they are less restrictive but they also draw in warmer air).
The difference in Insurance between my new Sequoia and my 2005 Passat was $450 per year. The insurance money I save owning the Sequoia will buy all my gas for a year at $3.50 per gallon. I rarely put more than 7500 miles in a year. Before people buy a little econobox they should find out how much insurance will be. It will probably surprise many. Trucks and SUVs are generally less per year than cars.
Probably because a truck can most likely be repaired after an accident whereas a tiny commuter car is totalled.
It deals with electric cars, that I built 8 years ago... and the rediculously priced 300hp EV Mustang.
I mean, whats the point of saving money on gas, if I have to sell my soul to get an EV or hybrid that looks like my grandma designed, Ford Festiva (Smart Car), and is a rolling death trap?
If I have the money to spend on a high dollar bad [non-permissible content removed] EV... Im not gonna be worried about saving the pocket change its going to cost me to run a petrol vechicle.
OTOH I have a 75 mi commute each way back to civilization for work.
OTOH while longer this is actually shorter in time than the commute I had from the Jersey suburbs to Manhattan for 20+ yrs.
What do you have? 3 kids? But there are options other than a suburban. My Freestyle hold 4 kids in carseats and will get 27mpg driving 70mph on the highway. And there are quite a few new CUVs that will do at least as well as your GrandPrix on gas.