Higher Prices of Gas, Cost-Cutting Strategies Proved Successful

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I was reading CNN Money - up to my worst - "Cheap Gas is history" and I fell a knot running up and down my throat and chills all over the surface of my skin. Clearly I remember last year price, more than 4 bucks per gal of gas. I almost abandoned my car to its own fate, but i always hoped that the price would definitely fall in the very short term.

Now, that the price is reaching a stable point at about 2 USD, the hopes are fading to black. And i would bet my own life that most Americans would share the same opinion as CNN’s. Hell! It should be about time to expect that the price gets beaten off and gets equivalent to the slow-down of the price of the barrel in the international market.

The fact is that, even though the cost of oil is being cut down due the market pressure, it is all about the reduced production-efficiency of refineries and the general environment of pitiful recession what causes the price to raise up.

Five Facts of Cutting Expenses Related to Oil

If I - or you, by the way - start to collect the bunch of tips and ticks to save money off the general and specific expenses related to gas, I would definitely write a Bible-wide Book. Some sort of "The New Testament of Saving Gas". Let’s throw that crap away, and get focused.

• The Nineties are part of History. There is no way to go back in time till the glorious nineties, so let’s cut that crap. The solution is not as close as one year away in space-time, so the present is now and saving if a task of today. I have heard so many people evoking the old glory of the nineties so many times, that i know it’s been enough with it. Just cut it off and begin living now!!!
• Selling your car is ok, but you had your reasons when you bought it. So, do you still need your car? Well, it is about savings, not disposals. I know a few ones that are willing to sell their own cars, just to wait till the gas is cheap again. I hope death won’t reach them before it happens. Really, we are obliged to save, but saving is all about being reasonable and reduce unneeded expenses, not to make any expense at all disappear. It might not apply to the growing crew of unemployed people, of course. Hey, there you are, you don’t have money, neither you enjoy the benefit of a salary and your future is quite uncertain, so if you have to, sell the car and carry on.
• Share your costs and it will be cheaper. Do you remember when the old grandfather - wiser could no ever - used to tell you that there were old great times when 3 or 4 fellows were carried together to their job sites within ONE car. Oh, yes, you can share the cost of gas if within a group decided to sacrifice a bit of comfort to obtain some residual savings. Try it, will help for sure.
• Public Transportation is fast, environmentally friendly and Cheap. Use it at your own leisure. If you have to move from work to school or from home to work, or the like and your timeframe is such that you may use the good old subway or tram, do it. You will save money, save your moods (hey, you won’t have to drive and wait as the rest of us) and save gas for the best of our fates.
• Get a new gear if needed. Some say that is best to invest in a valuable asset and save for the long term . Let’s see. Do you have one of those old fashioned vehicles, Buick-like, gas-devouring monsters. Sure,you don’t, but what if you have a 3-year-old car that has a few features not working 100% appropriately? "No big deal", you may say. Wrong! The fact is that old engines consume much more gas than a new fine-tuned car. I would recommend to invest in one of those new models, maybe even one hybrid model, something to consume much less gas than with your old pal.

I may be wrong, I know, but i am almost sure that the price won’t drop until less than 3 years. Indeed, in our best wishes that the aims and will of the people working with a strong government leads us to the path of progress, again.

The 1 Dollar Per Day Project

One Dollar per Day Project is not something unusual, amazing and unheard-of. It’s just as simple as keeping ONE DOLLAR out of your expenses per day and keeping it under the savings file.

Am I joking? Of course, not. I’m very serious about it. I will put it this way:

One dollar per day is 365-366 dollars per year. What happens 10 years after? You are dealing with - at least - 3650 USD. And 30 years after? Something more than 10000 USD.

But, if you do invest the money, then it might well be 30000 USD after 30 years. And just for so much as 1 Dollar out of your pocket, day after day.

Start the project yourself, TODAY!

Make an Expense Become an Investment

Usually, when January comes full to us, we stop and think what the year will be like. It’s kind of hard to guess, sometimes? No! Unless something really disastrous happens through the year - death within the calculates probabilities - anybody can make a good plan. Let’s call it a plain, simple budget.

Yes, a budget. It’s so easy as to put all the incomes in one side, and the expenses and INVESTMENTS on the other side. All of it, organized in a timely manner: would you ever rather it to be organized on a weekly basis, for the better.

Why did I remark INVESTMENTS amongst all? It’s because that’s what this post is about. Investments. They’re similar to the expenses in the operational sense of the word, that means, our money will reduce by means of them. The difference is that having the time passed - an enough, calculated lapsus - the money WILL return to us. More money than we invested.

How to make it successfully and where to invest?

It’s a combination of will, skill and guts. Let’s start with the budget. As a general rule, you should be able (and willing) to invest at least 10% of your overall incomes.

Remember that savings are a kind of investment. Maybe, not very effective in terms of ROI (Return of the Investment), but It will be the easiest of the investments. Anyone can open a saving account.

Another kind of investment is within the stocks markets. Bonds, Auctions and the like, your money can become your shares of the most unusual companies and holdings everywhere in the world. It takes more risk within, but it yields much better also.

Education is another kind of investment. Yes, if you get more education, and more skills, you will surely be more prepared to face the challenges of the laboral market, and possibly you will be more than eager to start your own business. Keep in mind that the more knowledge you have, the more chances are open.

And what about the enhancement of your own business? Sure. That’s maybe the best investment that can you achieve. If you buy better technology, gadgets, hardware or if you help your employees to get better professional qualifications (through seminar, specialized training, etc), then your business will be more and more productive, day after day.

That’s it. Remember that if you do decide it, you will make it. Do go on with your own personal investments. It will be worth the effort and the sacrifice.

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