Lets talk Money $$$$

[fuchsroehre]

I hope that is not an old topic but have not found anything like this in the search option.
Anyhow here is the question:
Times are getting tougher and inflation is hitting hard.
Our natural gas price doubled in 1 year (thanks Putin) and the vacation home rent went up 30%.
It is also somewhat a "sport" to save a few dollars.
What are you guys doing to save a few bucks? Is it worth getting a fuel card to receive discounted Diesel?
I drive 65mph even if the speed limit is 75mph to save some Diesel.
I do my own maintenance.
Anyone has some tips? I bet it's not only me who likes to save some money whenever it makes sense.
Is that a too sensitive topic?

 

[kevin588127]

I drive a beater for a daily. 07 Saturn Vue that gets 25 mpg and has AWD. Keeps the milage down on my gas guzzler.

Also have made some free money with various investing apps and sports betting apps.
Coinbase will give you free crypto just for taking short quizzes.
Acorns has a pretty lucrative deal that they run from time to time. Me and three buddies all signed up under another buddy. They gave him like 800 bucks and he split it equally with us. Like you said, it is kind of a game to see how much free money we can make.

 

[Mobrules]

I have some connections with a few trucking companies. I have a fuel card that I prepay with them so often and get diesel between 60 cents and 70 cents a gallon off. I've saved a lot that way. It benefits them because the more they use per month the bigger discount they get and I save each fill up.

 

[Jsboening]

I’m learning how to build a house with a mixture of mud and manure. Windows will be made from empty beer bottles. It will be heated with my family’s body heat in order to lower our carbon footprint. Hopefully the taxes on it will be reasonable.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I light my cigars with Sawbucks instead of Benjamin's.

Yea, this inflation sucks. Only good if you're in the right investments and riding it out. I was looking at retirement from FT work next year, not sure how that's going to play out now.

I stacked silver and lead too if things get really bad...

 

[Brutal_HO]

Our natural gas price doubled in 1 year (thanks Putin) and the vacation home rent went up 30%.

I'm curious what your thoughts are on blaming Putin?

Shouldn't we be blaming factors (among others) like Texas freeze reducing supply by 50% in January, Biden for diminished energy supply overall, and Europe for killing their nuclear options and driving up demand (especially Germany)?

I'm no energies expert, but that's my humble take on the current cost of energy. Oil is at an all time high (and still rising) and we're not building Gen IV nuke plants in EVERY STATE like we should be to fuel this coming EV explosion.

 

[elephantrider]

oh boi...

 

[jadmt]

natural gas is basically a byproduct of crude oil drilling/pumping so when crude oil pumping stops so does natural gas......natural gas was cheap because of that. shut down crude drilling/pumping and what does one expect...thanks joe

 

[gimmie11s]

We shlt in our own mess kit and now expect other countries to increase production so we can continue to drive our 9mpg vehicles.

The Double Irony Of Asking OPEC To Increase Oil Production

Here's why it is doubly ironic that the U.S. is pleading with OPEC to produce more oil.

www.forbes.com

The level of stupid this Admin displays knows no bounds.

As far as earning some extra cash-- OP, what are you hobbies? Can you make any side money doing them?

 

[fuchsroehre]

I'm curious what your thoughts are on blaming Putin?

Putin uses natural gas as a tool to put pressure on Europe, especially Germany.
There is a new pipeline (nord stream 2) which the USA would like to stop. Putin wants it to be finished asap to increase the dependency of Europe and increase the revenue of gas sales.
Nato and Europe is becoming too close to Ukraine which Putin does not like either.
Lowering the natural gas supply to Europe last fall showed that Putin has some power over Europe and can therefore negotiate a little easier.
German politicians are worried to get into trouble with the population asking for relief due to the high energy costs.

That Germany uses natural gas to produce electricity definitely does not help the situation and Putin also mentioned that after Germany complained about the limited supply.

I fear that the natural gas price in the USA is influenced by the high natural gas price in Europe.
Nuclear would help, especially when more electric cars are on the streets.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Natural gas has not increased in Canada thankfully. I did fuel up at 1.71$/L or about 6.80$ a gal the other day that was fun I remember when i bought my 19 the price of fuel was low I could never hit the 100$ mark when filling up with the fuel light on, now its 170$ from 1/4 tank

 

[sanda]

natural gas is basically a byproduct of crude oil drilling/pumping so when crude oil pumping stops so does natural gas......natural gas was cheap because of that. shut down crude drilling/pumping and what does one expect...thanks joe

Natural gas is not a byproduct of crude drilling. There are many gas wells drilled specifically for natural gas and nothing to due with oil. You may be thinking of propane gas as related to oil drilling and processing.

 

[sanda]

Putin uses natural gas as a tool to put pressure on Europe, especially Germany.
There is a new pipeline (nord stream 2) which the USA would like to stop. Putin wants it to be finished asap to increase the dependency of Europe and increase the revenue of gas sales.
Nato and Europe is becoming too close to Ukraine which Putin does not like either.
Lowering the natural gas supply to Europe last fall showed that Putin has some power over Europe and can therefore negotiate a little easier.
German politicians are worried to get into trouble with the population asking for relief due to the high energy costs.

That Germany uses natural gas to produce electricity definitely does not help the situation and Putin also mentioned that after Germany complained about the limited supply.

I fear that the natural gas price in the USA is influenced by the high natural gas price in Europe.
Nuclear would help, especially when more electric cars are on the streets.

The natural gas line from Russia was stopped by our previous administration but approved by our current administration.

 

[sanda]

We shlt in our own mess kit and now expect other countries to increase production so we can continue to drive our 9mpg vehicles.

The Double Irony Of Asking OPEC To Increase Oil Production

Here's why it is doubly ironic that the U.S. is pleading with OPEC to produce more oil.

www.forbes.com

The level of stupid this Admin displays knows no bounds.

As far as earning some extra cash-- OP, what are you hobbies? Can you make any side money doing them?

That guy is right on and points out the obvious to those who refuse to understand what is happening to the USA.

 

[jadmt]

Natural gas is not a byproduct of crude drilling. There are many gas wells drilled specifically for natural gas and nothing to due with oil. You may be thinking of propane gas as related to oil drilling and processing.

https://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/5339-natural-gas-now-a-byproduct-of-oil-drilling-output-to-climb-as-long-as-oil-prices-stay-high

 

[Blythkd1]

We shlt in our own mess kit and now expect other countries to increase production so we can continue to drive our 9mpg vehicles.

The Double Irony Of Asking OPEC To Increase Oil Production

Here's why it is doubly ironic that the U.S. is pleading with OPEC to produce more oil.

www.forbes.com

The level of stupid this Admin displays knows no bounds.

As far as earning some extra cash-- OP, what are you hobbies? Can you make any side money doing them?

It's not really about stupid. Yeah Joe's a complete idiot and always has been but the rest of the liberal elites are calling out the plays precisely according to their playbook. They fully intend to keep all of us normal folks in pain as much as possible. After all, energy prices doubling doesn't affect them in the least. The rest of us have to limit going out to eat, maybe our travel and vacations and anything else that we would typically do with disposable income. Oh well, that's just what "they" want.

As for dealing with it all? I'm working a 3rd job now. And it's not like I'm working day and night, I just started doing a little mechanic work a day or two a week since I'm only working 3-4 days a week for my primary paycheck. And my farming sideline only takes up a few weeks from June to October.

Also, put a brake caliper on my old LeSabre that it's been needing for a while. It's an '03 and it'll still get 30mpg highway. Anytime I don't need a HD truck, I drive the old turd wherever I need to go. It rides nicer than anything else I own and it's pretty comfy.

On your HD trucks, keeping the tires pumped up makes a difference. Even if you like running them at 50-60 psi, if you can stand 80 that's where they'll get the best mileage, especially towing.

I don't have my Ram yet but I used to run an S&B CAI on my Dmax's. The oiled cotton filter was worth a little mileage. I know they're a hot topic, guys either love them or hate them with the dissenters claiming you'd just as well dump dirt in your engine. But running on the highway, they're fine, just don't over oil them. I ran a 2012 Dmax up to 333k miles with one and it not only still didn't burn any oil, Blackstone Labs oil analysis showed that I was running every bit as clean an oil sample as those who ran paper filters. So take that for what it's worth and do what you will.

I really can't complain about 2020 and 2021. My wife has a good job and we've been busy and doing well. But I know it hasn't been that easy for everyone. Hopefully we'll get this all behind us and back to "normal" soon.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

On your HD trucks, keeping the tires pumped up makes a difference. Even if you like running them at 50-60 psi, if you can stand 80 that's where they'll get the best mileage, especially towing.

This is a win lose situation yes you may net a tiny increase in MPG but you will wear out the tires much faster so the tiny amount you save in fuel is lost in the cost of the tires, same goes for the CAI the expense of it will never net you the return in fuel savings so unless you are planning to push 600+ hp a CAI is doing nothing but making the turbo sound louder.

The cat and mouse fuel saving games are funny to me as they really never net a true return. The best way and the proven way to save money on fuel is to slow down and accelerate at a smooth steady pace other than that buy a Prius

 

[Blythkd1]

This is a win lose situation yes you may net a tiny increase in MPG but you will wear out the tires much faster so the tiny amount you save in fuel is lost in the cost of the tires, same goes for the CAI the expense of it will never net you the return in fuel savings so unless you are planning to push 600+ hp a CAI is doing nothing but making the turbo sound louder.

The cat and mouse fuel saving games are funny to me as they really never net a true return. The best way and the proven way to save money on fuel is to slow down and accelerate at a smooth steady pace other than that buy a Prius

I watch the speed and do smooth and steady acceleration too. Also back off the go pedal way in advance of stopping. I've made a lot of money off of fuel bonuses...and fuel savings. As for the CAI, mine paid for itself, others' results may vary. It paid for itself in replacement paper filters in the first year alone. I was hauling commercially. And the tires, I didn't notice the increased wear and I always ran 80psi. Maybe it was the tires? I ran Bridgestone R500HD's and have ran a pair on the front for 90K before rotation. They wore better on the front at higher psi. If I ran them lower, like 60-65, they wore more on the shoulders. FWIW, I'm not the kind to throw good money after bad. I look at the full picture, been pretty successful that way. I mean hey, give me some credit, I'm trading my Chevy for a Ram!

 

[Highcountry]

I have an old TDI Jetta that was my grandmothers. I usually get around 46 mpg and have cracked 50. It's nowhere near comfortable for me, but helped stretch my other trucks life before I got my new Ram. It's saved me a fair amount over the last 5 years

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

I watch the speed and do smooth and steady acceleration too. Also back off the go pedal way in advance of stopping. I've made a lot of money off of fuel bonuses...and fuel savings. As for the CAI, mine paid for itself, others' results may vary. It paid for itself in replacement paper filters in the first year alone. I was hauling commercially. And the tires, I didn't notice the increased wear and I always ran 80psi. Maybe it was the tires? I ran Bridgestone R500HD's and have ran a pair on the front for 90K before rotation. They wore better on the front at higher psi. If I ran them lower, like 60-65, they wore more on the shoulders. FWIW, I'm not the kind to throw good money after bad. I look at the full picture, been pretty successful that way. I mean hey, give me some credit, I'm trading my Chevy for a Ram!

If you are hauling then the 80psi wont be an issue but unloaded it will cause premature wear mainly referring to the rears as the heavy cummins up front will help keep the tire wear equal

I had the full banks system on my 05 and sure the banks filter is serviceable so it was in there a long long time but when it did need replacing it was almost 300$ for just the filter so any possible fuel savings went right out of the window when i replaced the filter at 270,000km (15 years) i could have replaced the factory filter every 60k and still came out under the cost of the banks replacement filter