We answered this question in our personal finance feature today:
Question: I am one of the thousands of people who live in Quezon City but work in Makati City. That means I drive some 20 kilometers to work every day, and that’s just one way. I tried commuting but it’s impossible during rush hour. With the price of gasoline going up, travel to and from work makes a huge dent in my budget. Is there any relief in sight for us? – Josephine P.
We all will have to deal with the rising cost of gas, whether or not we are from Quezon City, Bulacan, Cavite, Cebu or Davao. The most terrible forecast I have heard so far is for a full tank to cost P30,000. That’s almost the take-home pay of senior call center agents.
Full tank at P30,000? Goodbye car, hello MRT for many middle-class families. I see a lot of them in the MRT, even now. You can sense which MRT commuters used to bring a car to work. Pretty soon, Josephine’s “impossible” may turn to “no other choice.”
I like the sneaky tricks to save on gas:
- Lighten up the trunk. More weight in your car trunk will make your car work harder, using up more gas.
- At the gas pump, don’t top off the tank. The excess gas may spill and will amount to waste. Just stop filling at the automatic level.
- When parking, choose a shady spot to prevent gas from evaporating under the heat.
- Fill up your tank in the morning or evening when the air is cooler. At midday, gas may expand due to the heat and you will end up getting a lesser amount of gas.
One oil company has seen an opportunity in this crisis. Seaoil is offering a price lock prepaid card at P1,070 for 20 liters, or P53.30 per liter. They are selling the card only from June 10 to 16.
Good or bad deal?
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My article entitled “Inflation, your nest egg’s silent assassin” came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (print version) yesterday. It has a link where you can download the retirement worksheet from Augustus J.V. Ferreria.
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For those who are interested in learning about investing in the stock market, the Philippine Stock Exchange has a seminar called “Demystifying the Stock Market” on June 19, 2008, 6:00 to 10:00 PM, at the Trading Floor of the PSE Centre, Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. For more information please call the PSE Senior Specialist/Project Head at 6887537 or 9130054.
June 10th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Good option is to join a car pool or live near your work. You can also work on flexi time if allowed. Instead of going to work at 8, go to work at 6:30 and go home earlier than 5 pm. Or if you usually go home late, go to work at 9 am and go home after the rush hour.
Grabe, hindi na ako nanonood ng news - nakakadepress kasi eh at baka mamaya ang bumulaga sa akin eh P100/L na.
Dito pataas din ng pataas ang bilihin hindi ko na nga ma-track. Everytime punta ako sa grocery iba ang presyo. Good thing, hindi pa nagtaas ang gasolina - it’s still 22 US cents per liter
June 10th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
i’m one of those people living in QC and working in Makati driving 16.5 kms per day (the 0.5 km is the downward spiral of my basement parking). my last full tank was at P2052 from less than P2k a few weeks back.
I was offered 10% ethanol fuel but i turned it down even if it’s cheaper for i still need to find out how it will affect my car.
it’s good that i have a monthly gas allowance from my company in liters and not in absolute amounts so i’m somehow insulated from rising gas prices except when i overshoot the preset allowance.