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Entry bubble How Ya Doing?

By: Nancy | October 02, 2008 | Category: Health

Economic and political headlines. Work situations and career changes. Health and home. I don't think I can name anybody I know who hasn't experienced an increase in their stress level this past week.

stressed man with hands claspedAdult or kid, everyday life or traumatic event, stress sure is inevitable. And it's so easy to react to it unconsciously, whether you're stocking up on comfort food or battling physical symptoms like headaches or insomnia. The last time I was under a lot of stress, I developed a tic in my right eye. Half the people on the subway thought I was flirting with them.

Take a look at some of these tips on managing stress in a healthy way and then I'd love to hear: how has stress been affecting you lately, physically or mentally? What are you doing to cope with it (good or bad)? While I'm waiting to hear from you, I'll go have a cookie. And some aspirin.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [11] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: economy   health   nancy   stress  

 

Entry bubble Why Are Gasoline Prices So High?

By: Jake | May 26, 2008 | Category: Money

My post last week about saving money on gas had many of you asking why the price of gasoline was so high. You weren't the only ones.

Congress brought executives from oil companies to Capitol Hill last week and asked them to explain the price hikes. Unfortunately, there weren't too many clear answers. I'm not an oil expert or economist, but in this post I'll try to shed light on why gasoline prices are high.EIA Gasoline Price Chart

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the Department of Energy (their job: to provide neutral data regarding energy in the U.S) says the cost of crude oil is the main contributor to the price of gasoline. Crude oil accounts for 70% of the price at the pump. According to the EIA, the spot price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which is the U.S. benchmark for light, sweet crude oil, has risen steadily from $101.54 per barrel on March 31 to a record high of $128.93 per barrel on May 20.

The main reason for crude oil's price increase is high worldwide demand. Countries like China (especially with the recent earthquake) have increased their imports of petroleum. Political events and conflicts in oil producing countries also affect the price. What's more interesting is that crude oil is traded worldwide in U.S. dollars and since the value of the dollar is declining, it causes the price of crude to go up.

In the EIA's "This Week in Petroleum" published May 21, they project prices will go up in June and will rise as long as the price of crude oil keeps increasing. The report adds that the usual Memorial Day and summer travel season increase in demand should be lower due to higher prices, but this will not have too much of an effect on price since millions will still travel. Policymakers have proposed lowering or repealing gas taxes, but it's not certain how much this would lower the price.

As long as the price of crude oil continues to rise, we'll be paying more for gasoline. Let's hope gasoline will never cost more than a gallon of beer or ketchup.

| View Comments [21] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: economy   fuel   gas   gasoline   jake   oil   world  

 

Entry bubble Save Gas, Save Money

By: Jake | May 19, 2008 | Category: Money

fuel pumpNext Monday is Memorial Day so many of you will be traveling this weekend. Some will travel by train and plane, but most of you will hit the highway.

If you haven't been living in a secluded area that does not require fuel to live (say a well lit cave), you know that gasoline prices have gone up a lot. It's literally gotten to the point where service stations have to replace old gas meters because they were not built to charge more than a certain amount a gallon.

Let's accept the fact that there is not much you (or we here at Gov Gab) can do to get cheap gas besides researching which station sells the cheapest gas in any location. Once you have paid for your gas, however, there are things you can do to improve your gas mileage and there are things that people say to do (myths) that won't make a difference.

Premium fuel (unless your car requires premium), fuel additives, buying gas in the morning, and changing your air filter generally do not improve your car's fuel use. That information comes from a CNN article where Consumer Reports and Edmunds.com tested six common gas myths. The article did find that inflating your tires and using your air conditioner properly would conserve fuel, but make sure you read the article to see how to do it properly.

There are other effective ways to save fuel that were not mentioned in the article. The Federal Trade Commission offers some tips and Fueleconomy.gov suggests you keep your car tuned up, plan and combine trips and most importantly watch your driving habits. If you really wanted to save money on gas, you could buy or trade in for a more fuel efficient car.

Alright, I've been as thorough as possible but I don't think I've covered every way to save gas. Tell me what you do to conserve gas.

| View Comments [9] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: economy   fuel   gas   gasoline  

 

Entry bubble Vehicle Fuel Economy

By: Sommer | December 07, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

In August, we traded in my husband’s beloved sports car for a new – well, new-to-us – car. We finally decided it was time to become adults and get a 4-door with some hauling capacity. Being new homeowners, we continuously found it difficult to haul more than groceries in our sports car and 2-door coupe. And forget about picking people up from the airport, that required us to bring both cars – one for people and one for luggage!

Initially my husband drove the car to work. Since I only drive about 4 miles per day – round trip to the Metro – the coupe was fine for me to cruise around town in. On the weekends, though, it was such a treat riding in the new car with its heated leather seats and sunroof.gas pump

We were very impressed with the car at first because, since it’s an all wheel drive wagon, we expected it to get SUV-like gas mileage. To our pleasant surprise, our average miles per gallon with my husband driving the car 30 highway miles round trip to work and on various weekend outings was about 23 - 24 miles per gallon. So, when I started driving the car a few weeks ago (since gas is getting more expensive) I thought it would be a great test to see if it was actually better, money and gas mileage wise, for me to drive the car my short 4 miles a day and continue to use it for weekend driving. Since the car has a neat dashboard gadget that automatically calculates average miles per gallon I was ready to see what happened! How disappointed was I to watch my mpg relatively plummet?!?! Now, as it stands today, I’m down to 17.7 miles per gallon!!! YIKES!

Based on the information on fueleconomy.gov I’m right at the average mpg for city driving which makes me feel a little better. The newly revised EPA MPG Estimates give the car a range of 17 mpg for city driving and 24 for highway which averages out at about 22 mpg. 

I guess I’ll start following some of their recommended tips for improving gas mileage and see whether my average mpg changes or not.

| View Comments [3] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: auto   car   economy   gas   mileage   sommer   vehicle  

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