Think Your Way to Wealth is noticing the same thing that I’ve noticed: Gas prices are sneaking back up. For a while they were down in the low-$2 range here (yeah that qualifies for low now) and now they’re testing $3 again. “RC” caught that the former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, predicts $5 … Read more
The check engine light went on Friday in our 2005 Town and Country. It wasn’t the gas cap this time but we found out why the engine light was on before taking it to the dealership. One commenter on that post suggested getting a CarChip E/X but on the newer models of the Chrysler Town … Read more
A friend at work mentioned a few days ago that he was interested in getting some solar panels. He’s already taken a few steps to make his family more self-sufficient and less reliant on public utilities, and this is the next step. I began to wonder what kind of money solar panels were going for. … Read more
My tachometer, my friend. Not all vehicles have one of these but it is a helpful monitor of gas consumption. The relationship between gas consumed and revolutions (cycles) per minute isn’t exactly linear but in general, the higher the engine’s RPM, the more gas is consumed. The tachometer gives me a visual cue as to … Read more
One of No Credit Needed’s posts asked people about what exactly constituted six months’ worth of expenses, which led naturally to a discussion about emergency funds. The last of four questions he asked his readers to respond to: What is the smallest emergency fund with which you would be comfortable? I said “75 years” with … Read more
With $4 gas nicely entrenched now in the US — and higher fear premiums brought on by recent Iranian missile tests — driving around is starting to suck. (Well, at least the filling-up part.) Ah well, just get a gas guzzler with a guarantee of $2.99 gas and you’re all set, right? Probably not, according … Read more
My mother-in-law has a friend who works at a gas station, and her friend has an indicator on when gas prices are truly getting high: She doesn’t think gas prices are high yet, because people are still buying lottery tickets and soda pop after filling up their tank. When they stop buying the lottery tickets … Read more
With dealers starting to refuse gas guzzlers for trade-ins, monster, expensive-to-power vehicles are going to drop in price. Buying someone else’s problem can make for a good deal for the buyer. But even if these vehicles could be traded in, trading an SUV for a fuel-efficient vehicle may not make financial sense. (It does make … Read more