You need an option for "I use so little gas it doesn't effect me".

We're a lot less likely to hop in the car and drive to the next town to see a movie or shop, if that counts. Our local theaters blow, so it's either a 30 minute drive or Netflix for movies--lately, Netflix has been winning out. I wouldn't say we're subsisting on ramen, though.

I've never been more thankful for my 8 mile round trip "commute." I could make more money if I took a job in a nearby larger city, but I think my raise would get eaten up by the cost of gas.

Word, Jason.

There are a few other options missing, too. Like "Finally exploring alternate modes of transportation and carpooling and such" or "Realizing I'm not the center of the universe and changing my schedule a bit to rideshare does not declare that I'm not a good American" and so forth. Oh, and don't forget "Trying to remember not to complain too much because I totally bought into our unsustainable lifestyles and now will happily pay the piper"

I voted "Ramen". I've changed the way I drive and that I've increased my gas mileage ~25%. I drive a 96 Buick Century and I used to get 20 mpg; now I get 25mpg.

The key is accelerating slowly, braking less, and coasting more. I never touch the gas pedal when I'm going down a hill, I accelerate slowly out of stop signs and stop lights even if someone is tailgating me, I just move slowly at a constant pace in heavy traffic instead of starting and stopping and when I see a red light coming up, I always take my foot off the gas and coast up to it instead of accelerating up to it only to have to brake (and most of the time the light turns green before I get there so I don't ever have to stop).

My commute to work is about 6 miles one-way with a combination of interstate and secondary street driving. I've found that I can cover a little more than a mile of that without ever touching my accelerator.

I agree the options are too narrow. I have a hybrid, so the higher gas prices are barely affecting me at all.

there also needs to be an option to the effect of "I don't care, and as such I just bought a truck that gets 8 MPG"

That'd be the one I'd vote for seeing as I did just that.

God bless public transportation.

I am less inclined to make long trips in my current vehicle. So I'd say, yes, minor influence, even though I can afford it. Very minor influence on spending because I normally do so little driving.

I wish I could vote "I do not purchase gas."

That's going to bug me my entire 60 mile drive home from work today!

I'm in the same category as Jason.

I take the bus to work every day and sometimes go for weeks without filling up.

Rather than complaining about the rising price of fuel -- something that will eventually force industrialized countries to come up with viable alternative fuels -- I now ride my bicycle to work three days each week. I filled up my Corolla more than two weeks ago, and still have a half tank.

I carpool and this has cut my gas/toll costs in half. The total amount my wife and I spend on gas has gone up and we are spending less on other things, mainly not buying "crap" we don't need.

My gas bill went from $18/week to roughly $25/week. The $7 increase represents such a minuscule portion of my income that not only it doesn't affect my income, I don't even bother following the gas prices.

Got a motorcycle last year when I knew that gas prices were going nowhere but up. Not only is it fun to ride in my leisure time, but I get 60+ mpg.

My heart goes out to suburbanites who HAVE to purchase gas to get to and from work. My mom commutes a total of 50 miles every day just to get to work and back and the gas prices on Long Island are killing her. I've encouraged her to explore public transportation, but she says it is not an option as her home and office are too far off of the beaten path.

At least she now carpools.

We're fortunate enough to be in NYC, but we do have a car (from a previous, non-NYC living life) which we like to use for weekends. Gas prices have most assuredly changed our driving habits. While we used to use the car just about every weekend and drive up or out to the country, we pretty strictly enfoce a one-tank-per-month policy.

Living in NYC does have its own share of insane expenses, so lest anyone think NYers get away without overpaying for, well, everything. But I truly feel for those who find themselves spending $200+ a month just to get to work!

I'm in the same boat as Jason where I don't drive enough for the gas increase to be a big deal. I pay more for gas, but at most it means I eat lunch out about once less per week. Of course, how this really hurts retail is the increased cost of shipping goods.

@silencedotcom: Ditto. :(

@silencedotcom:
I feel your pain, I drive 64 miles each way for work everyday, but I was able to select "I do not buy gas" on a technicality, I drive a diesel VW Passat that gets around 40 miles per gallon and luckily for me diesel prices have not been affected as much as gas around here. Granted, during the winter I pay a bit more for fuel but the extra mpg's more than offset that cost. Currently here in NC gas is around $3.19/gallon while diesel is $2.89/gallon. I'm still puzzled by the fact that diesel prices haven't moved hardly at all over the last few months even though there is more crude oil per gallon of diesel than per gallon of gas and here in NC there is at least $0.20 more in taxes per gallon. I guess the demand for diesel isn't as much as for gas.

Where's the "I just drive a bit less"? I don't go on as many pleasure drives just for fun, but I'm a car enthusiast so I still do do so, just not as much.

Let's be honest, does the price of gas rising $1.00 per gallon really impact the average consumer? I don't think so.

If you run a gas station, trucking/distribution company, or an airline, I can see the impact would be profound. But the average consumer who fills up once a week???

In my not-so-humble opinion, if a modest rise in gas prices forces a major change in your purchasing habits, you have deeper financial problems that you need to correct.

@chemman: Diesel is a byproduct of the normal refining process, I think, and also is taxed differently.

I'm a VW enthusiast and I can't figure out what took so long for VW to put the TDI back into the Passat after it disappeared after the B4 generation went off the market around 1997.

VW was also planning to put the TDI in the whole lineup when low-sulfur diesel was phased in here in the US, but instead cut back (you cannot get a TDI Jetta/Golf right now, for example) when the emissions requirements were tightened. A 50-state-legal TDI is on the way, however. Look for it in late 2008 or sometime in 2009.

@Bulldog9908: It affects more than you think. There's been plenty of newspaper articles asking that question and running surveys and a surprisingly high number of people say "yes, it does affect me to some degree".

Especially those with long commutes or no mass transit available to them.

@Bulldog9908: "Let's be honest, does the price of gas rising $1.00 per gallon really impact the average consumer? I don't think so."

$1/gal * ~22 gal/wk * 4 wk/mo = ~$88 more per month.

"In my not-so-humble opinion, if a modest rise in gas prices forces a major change in your purchasing habits, you have deeper financial problems that you need to correct."

Totally 100% agreed. But the impact IS there.

@Buran:
Yes, this is my first VW diesel and I've had it since 2005. I love it and am waiting for the new models to come out in '08 or '09 so we can replace my wife's current car with another diesel. An added bonus is the local station here just started selling B20, which helps reduce my crude oil consumption. While it costs a bit more, my car seems to run better with it and I believe you can still get a tax break that equates to 20 cents per gallon (a penny per percentage biodiesel). When I lived in MI the local station just knocked the 20 cents off the cost and filed the tax paperwork themselves which was nice, the station here doesn't seem to do that but I don't remember if the tax break was state or federal so I need to check into it again.

@chemman

I'm excited that you mentioned biodiesel. I have a 2005 Golf TDI that I run on B99.

Gas prices have not affected me at all. I get my B99 from a co-op type place, where I buy 100 gallons at a time (at a fixed rate of 3.15), and then just fill up as needed till I've depleted my 100 gallons. I usually make a purchase every 3 or 4 months. The cost of gas never crosses my mind. I also take the bus most days during the week, not because I want one less car on the road, but because paying for parking every day in downtown Seattle is one sure way to inspire a ramen diet.

And @Buran - I'm excited to hear that more TDI's are on their way. Thanks for the info!

I take public transit for work, so I'm thankful I only have to fill up maybe every two weeks. But I've been making a better effort to consolidate errands into fewer trips.

While I'm not thrilled to be pay more at the pump in my old Saturn, I do enjoy the fact that people with SUVs and Hummers in my city are having to pay more to fill up their tanks.

I bought a scooter last summer. To make up for the scooter payments, I've started brown bagging it.

Hell yeah, I've notice more people are crowding the metro and taking up all the seats. Go back to your cars damnit!

I've had to trim back a bit on the frivolous stuff (the gag and novelty shop up the road has lost some business, I'm afraid), but so far it hasn't been enough to really put a pinch on me. $3.00 for regular averages about an extra $30 out of me per month, I'd say.

It's the $4 we'll undoubtably have to pay later this summer that's gonna start really hurting.

.....We're not being terribly hurt by the gas prices. I deliberately chose to buy a house close to where I work and shop. That, and two years ago, I sold my T-Bird with the 5.0 liter V-8. My little Mazda 1.6 liter sips gas.

.....I am contributing to the retail slow-down, but it's coincidental, not related to gas prices. I've got a collapsing sewer drain, and it's going to have to be replaced soon, with ductile iron. It's going to cost around $10k, and I'm saving up so that I don't have to cash in a CD, sell stock or (heaven forbid!) go into debt to pay for it.

I ride a bike.

I saw this coming and bought a Scion XA. I work 35 miles from home, and round-trip is less than $5 a day at 3.05/gallon. I'll stop driving 74 MPH when it gets up to $4, I'm sure.

That, and I use public transportation at least once a week for commuting. I'd sell the car and do it every day, but it's 5 hours round trip instead of less than two. And the round-trip ticket is $15. Way to try and get people to use public transportation, MBTA :\

I park my car at the gas station so I can snicker while pointing at the SUV drivers filling up. Gales of laughter and back flips for Hummer/Blazer/F300 owners.

My husband walks to work and I usually don't have any reason to drive. At the moment, unfortunately, I'm in the process of renovating my new house while still living in my old apartment, so I have to drive there and back, but fortunately the new house is closer to Lowe's and two good grocery stores, so I can get other errands done on house days. Once the renovation's over, we'll go back to not driving much at all.

80 to 160 a month (depending on whether my carpool is available) is quite a wallet-pinching sum. I am required to commute for work, and before the tree-huggers start yelling at me, There are no viable Public Transport routes between here and there. My commute would be well over 3 hours.

Oh, and that 160 a month is in my 4 cylinder 1990 toyota cressida.

I don't like paying more but it hasn't changed my driving habits.

I already don't drive much and chain my errands because I am lazy. But I do notice that I say to myself a little more often, "Ugh, that's a 10-mile round trip -- that'd be a lot of gas for one errand" when I have to go out to somewhere a bit more distant. So I've noticed either putting those off until I have several errands in the same far-distant place (which can take quite a while) or just dropping it.

I'm a SAHM and work from home periodically, so my own habits are pretty much unchanged. My husband travels frequently by car for work, but that expense is tax-deductible. I'm contributing to the retail slowdown also, but I think it's very reductive of "them" to poll about gas where that's concerned. The pinch for us is coming from the fact that the real estate economy is slowing (so my husband hasn't had a raise, even for cost of living, in two years) and our taxes and utilities are increasing. Our electric rate has more than doubled in the last year, and the other utilities are up 15-50%. Additionally, the new MA health insurance law is going to drain our budget for another $450/month at minimum. That brings us to zero or less, even if we stop saving. We miss the cutoff for subsidized health by less than $1000 a year. Retail spending is going to have to take it for the team while we try to eke out a middle-class life until I can find a job that would cover child care, transportation, and increased taxes, with some left over for the household. I doubt we're alone in this. Point is, it runs a lot deeper than gas prices.

We used to eat out about 4-5 times a week as we both work. What we have done is cut that down to 2 times a week and that pretty much covers the gas increases. We will continue that strategy as they keep going up and when that doesnt work anymore, we'll cut something else. In the meantime we run less errands and spend less money.

The difference in gas prices seems pretty trivial to me, personally. An increase of $1/gallon affects me by about 1-2% of my net income. Working around that isn't very difficult.

I've been biking to work, but I'm lucky to only live 2 miles from the office.

Ever since prices started rising a few years ago, it's really change my view of the city. I used to drive across 12 miles one way to go to the pool or go shopping. Now, I wait until I have a really good reason, or can consolidate trips.

I turned down a job with a forty minute commute that paid 1.50 more per hour for one within walking distance of my house. I have yet to regret it.

I bought gas yesterday for the first time since early April, now that my bike's fixed, I think I'll fill up again after the Fourth of July.

Is there an option for "High Gas Prices have really helped me get exercise lately"?

I use to drive 7 miles to the subway to get to work. Since last Friday (Bike to Work Day), I've been riding my bike 2.5 miles to the bus station that takes me to the subway. That equals to zero dollars in gas and more exercise.

I'm not at ramen desperation yet, but the increase in price has stopped almost all weekend errand-running and no eating out at all. If the store I need to stop at isn't open on the way home from work, it has to wait until a day when my shift ends earlier.

And it's a real killer to small business, I own a lawncare/landscaping service and the customers still want to pay $25 for a full service cut. I'm not talking a cheap service either, it's mow, mulch instead of bag, edging, etc all on California EPA standards equipment (in IL). They expect to pay the same as the guy running undocumented workers with no training, no bond, no insurance. Just try to track down that blue pickup truck with 3 guys riding in the bed to fix the complaint after they leave ruts in your yard or knock siding off your house.

I am a relatively new car owner (just moved from NYC) and I'm sure most everyone does this... but it bears mentioning that during a tuneup my husband replaced a fitting on the oil line that looked a little iffy, and we went from 20 MPG on our Subaru to 30 MPG. That takes some of the sting out of gas increase for us.

Yeah, this post needs a "I've changed my driving habits" option.

I'm a SAHM these days, so I've stopped going out during the day unless I really need to. In addition, my husband has started driving my car to work because it gets better gas mileage and takes regular instead of premium fuel. So yes, we are feeling the pinch.

I'm sticking it out with my civic until tesla comes out with their mid-range electric car. Check it out, www.teslamotors.com, the roadster's unrealistic for me but i'll take a rich persons subsidized electric car in a couple years.

I'd rather pay the power company than shell.

I've been a lot less likely going out to the local theme parks, etc and just doing stuff around my house.

I've also had to cut down my volunteering, I can't afford to drive 40 minutes several times a week anymore.

I wish I could use public transportation, but it takes me 1.5 hrs to get to work, same to come back, and this includes 1 transfer and waiting in bus stops without any sort of shelter (crazy in the rainy season here in FL.)

@Jason: Ditto