Have You Made Any Changes?

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to guilt anyone into making changes in how they do things, OR brag about what we have done at our household. Rather, it is to share some ways Fred and I have altered our lifestyle as a result of fuel prices, which ultimately affects almost everything we purchase, where we go and what we do.

So...have you made any changes in your day to day activities which can save fuel, and/or save you money at the market, and/or your life in general?

1. We sold Fred's gas-guzzling boat with the 300 HP Mercury motor and my pontoon boat, and now have one boat that is much more fuel efficient.
2. We cancelled our summer plans to travel to Utah and Montana.
3. I'm trying some local brands of items at the market instead of name brands.
4. Mowing the lawn at a higher level, and less often.
5. Irrigating less (much in part to Mother Nature providing regular rain-fall).
6. Going out to dinner fewer times a week than usual.
7. Switching from a land line and cellular service to just cellular.
8. I planted less flowers this year that in previous years.
9. Doing more entertaining at home.
10. Put some house projects on "hold" until we are caught up paying for previous ones.
11. Shopping at the local Farmer's Market.

I got to thinking about how all this reflects on the Jay Leno post from a day or so ago, and the commentary from "G". Yes, the trickle down effect will certainly be more noticable as fuel pricing continues to dominate our economy. If nine out of ten people stop going out for dinner, the restaurants and staff suffer, as does the supplier, and so on.

I was also thinking about how making small changes by the masses can make a difference. Maybe not always in a good way, but I choose to think of it that way at this writing. e.g. If people stop buying puppies from "puppy mills", then the cycle of abuse stops, and start getting them from the local shelter, it's a win-win.

Just food for thought, as we are seeing this in a positive and negative way relating to fuel and animals, respectively.