Rant #3,061: Gas Money

It is finally Friday, but since Friday is part of the work week, Friday is just another day that we have to get through to reach our goal—to get to the weekend.

Me, I have my usual day of work, driving my family back and forth to the various places they have to be, and that is pretty much it for me, another full day as a semi-retired old fogey.

And when I look at the current gas prices and see where they are going during the next few months, it makes me feel every year of my old fogeydom.

When I got my driver’s license as a 17 year old in 1974, gas was 67 cents a gallon … yup, less than a dollar per gallon, which to this teenager, was still a bit expensive, because I was now paying for gas for my car—my dad’s old yellow taxi—and it was taking money away from my purchases of records and other things.

But now, as a 65-year-old old fogey, gas has jumped about 70 cents in two weeks at one station that I used to frequent, and I filled my tank on Wednesday at a different station, where gas was $3.27 a gallon … and that particular station is now at $3.33 the last time I looked.

And I read yesterday that gas in New York State should rise to at least $4 a gallon by April, which is just a wonderful birthday present for me, as I turn 66 years young at the end of that month.

At least in New York State, the reasons for the rising gas prices are pretty obvious.

All the local and state taxes that were taken out of the price last year to make it easier for consumers to pay for the gas have been put back on, so tax amnesty is over,

And people have adjusted their driving habits, and they simply aren’t using their cars as much as they used to, so when the need is down, the price goes up.

And you just know that unless something is done by our federal, state and local leaders, the gas that costs us $4 a gallon in April will probably cost us $5 a gallon by the summer.

And in my situation, gas is chomping away at my money that I get from my work and from Social Security, the former of which I am frozen to make only a certain amount of money because I retired early and the latter of which was adjusted for inflation for 2023 but somehow doesn’t cut it.

I really don’t mind taking my son back and forth to work, but that chore, and all the other driving I do during the week, the month and the year, have reached—and in some months exceeded—the amount of driving that I did when I was working full time and had to drive back and forth to my job five days a week.

In fact, this month, the first month of the new year, might just set a precedent for the remaining 11 months of the year, as I will go over 1,000 miles driven for the month this morning when I return home from taking my son to work.

There are still a couple of days left to the month, so I figure that by this coming Wednesday, the first day of February, I will probably have driven nearly 1,200 miles for the month of January.

You multiply that number by 12 months, and I will drive more than 14,000 miles this year.

Sure, I know that some months I won’t drive as much as January—and some months I will exceed that number—but just as an average, my soon-to-be nine year old car is going to have to roll a lot of miles this year.

In fact, if my calculations are correct, my car should hit the 100,000 mile mark in July or August of this year.

And it will take plenty of money for it to get to that point, and it all comes out of my pocket.

I am not the only one having to bear this burden, but unless we get some relief, a major portion of my money is getting pumped into my gas tank.

And I just hope my car holds up to this burden, too, because there is no way that I can afford a new car at this point in time.

I consider myself lucky, because I will put my 2014 Kia Optima against any car on the road. It is a great car, perfect for me and my driving habits, and I know that I will get from Point A to Point B seamlessly when I drive my car.

But it is going to be nine years old during the middle of May, and I have to wonder how long it can go … I hope to get it to do way past 100,000 miles with the proper upkeep.

But then again, I am not looking forward to pumping $5 per gallon into the car, but it sure looks like that is inevitable, unless we get another tax amnesty like we did last year.

It sure helped, and I think we could really use another one …

The sooner the better.

Have a nice weekend. Speak to you again on Monday.