Hi money friends, petrol price question.

I find I'm planning more and not just taking the car for the convenience of it. I carefully think about the shopping I need and if its bulky then I take the car but in doing so will think about meals and other items for the week and attempt to get as much as possible in the one big shop.

I find I'm chosing to walk more and where I might have travelled by bus in both directions but now (weather permitting) walk there and bus it back.

I'm also having to do this in order to conserve fuel as much as possible, as I have an elderly disabled mother who relies on me to take her to the shops, doctor's, dentists, hospital etc and on these visits it is not difficult to be exceeding 80 miles a trip.

I have family who live in Lincolnshire and if they didn't have a car then they wouldn't ever get a thing. What I do feel is grossly unfair is that petrol prices in rural areas are higher than in town's where there is more choice and competition amongst forecourts.

Actually my wife and I share one car and its still cheaper than public transport to travel by car if there are the two us. We use public transport or cycle when travelling alone.

I'm already the driver of a car share, and struggled enough with the petrol prices. Sure, there's one spare space in my car, but there's nobody to fill it.
Like you, we just have to learn to cope!

There's not much I can do except to try to use the car as little as possible and pay the increased cost. There is an extremely limited bus service in our village (one bus each way every other day to the nearest town) and there are no shops, doctor or indeed any other facility remaining in the village. The nearest post office and (expensive) corner shop is a 9 mile round trip which is possible by bike in the summer (taking your life in your hands on a narrow and fast road), but too dangerous in the dark and wet in the winter. The nearest supermarket is a 14 mile round trip.

Hi LILLIE.As a city dweller it will much easier for me to change my driving plans by mixing car usage with more cycling and walking especially in relatively short distances.

We're in the same situation, Lillie, as we live in a small village with no viable public transport. The only amenity left in the village is the pub, so it's a minimum five mile drive to any facilities at all, and further if I want something better than the nearest shop which is an expensive convenience store.

Car sharing wouldn't work for us as all the local people go to work and come back at different times.

I've taken to planning more to cut out unnecessary journeys, and the delivery charge for online grocery shopping is really good value now, but I expect that will be going up soon.

Buy a tandem!!!

Triple bonus all round really - you and your hubby get fitter and sexier , you pay nothing saving petrol and the environment plus your husband gets to see your lovely bottom for at least an hour a day!
>;o)

Just make sure he pedals as hard as you do - nothing worse than a bicycle tandem hitch-hiker!!!
>;o)

I've just fitted a pair of improvised skis to my bicycle to steady me in the snow and ice - you should see the angry looks i get from motorists as i whizz past all the traffic jams stuck in the snow! hehe

There is always method in my particular madness!!!

Similar to previous answers, I live in a remote area, nearest Supermarket of any size is nearly an hours drive. I am using the Tesco delivery service which can cost as little as £3.50 if you choose your day and time carefully. It would certainly cost me more to drive to the shop. We are making a point of not using the car very much, any errands that need doing all get saved up until we go out and do them all at once. There's no more 'little drive out' to the beach or surrounding countryside either, which is quite miserable making. I am starting to feel that there's a grand plan to have us all effectively trapped in our homes, living a virtual life, online everything.... shopping, friends etc. What will life be like in 20 years?

Hi Lillie! I have one mandate at the moment and that is to use the car as little as possible. I currently work full time and have a lease car with paid for business mileage. But what I receive for 'business mileage' rarely covers the cost, taking into account stopping and starting, waiting in traffic and of course the effects of the cold weather and the need for more heat and air conditioning, all of which takes its toll on MPG! So I have to watch it both ways.

I therefore do everything I can in the course of business mileage i.e. do my shopping en route etc. And at weekends, if I have nowhere to go or be, the car stays put. With diesel currently costing £1.32 a litre, that is £6 exactly a gallon.

I suspect though that with most people having to make committed use of their cars ( have you seen what taxis charge? ), their use will probably not decline a lot although I have noticed the roads can be virtually empty where I live after 8pm. Unfortunately, with taxis, trains etc being the cost they are, I cannot see people giving up their cars.

On a different note, I do find the advent of electric cars exciting and look forward to how technology takes that forward. But you know what? Even electric cars need power cell charging up and even with the consideration of greener energy sources and reducing fossil fuels, I bet someone somewhere will make money out of this, even preposterous amounts in due course ( remember the advent of mobile phones and the rip off schemes that ensued? ). That doesn't even take into consideration the government finding ways to tax it!