I know my wife is thinking of leaving her job to move closer to our home because of gas prices. She is also looking for a carpool on RideSearch.com

maybe she should look at Aptera.com and buy a car that gets 300mpg instead of driving her SUV all by herself and getting 16mpg on the highway ?

nope. quality of life is far too high where I live now. Zero traffic, recreation right out the front door, 12 miles of mostly empty state highway to work. for urban folks, often one place is just like another, just a different four walls and a different market to grocery shop, so it may make sense. Here in outdoor paradise, any move would be a step down, not sideways.

I live approximately 85 miles from where I work. I spent the last year learning how to drive my car for maximum gas mileage. I actually, by my driving, increased my mileage by 25%. Then I found out about natural gas powered vehicles and bought a used one. I now actually make a 175 mile round trip at a fuel cost of approximately $3.95. In Utah, natural gas sells for $.64 per gallon equivalent. This actually saves me $24.00 per day in fuel. The State will give me a tax credit of $2500 for purchasing the car.

Might be worth looking into.

I commuted 75-80 miles a day for over ten years. Even with a pretty economical car it would cost me about $400 per month to do that and it's only getting higher (no one talks about magical $5 ceilings anymore like they did about $4). Luckily our new parent company has a "home office" policy or I would have had to have moved this summer.

Last year I bought a hybrid because I have a long commute to and from work. Then the price per gallon was about 3.25, now almost 5.00!
If the price of gasoline remains this high I will probably stay in the ex-urbs. Housing prices may be coming down in those areas as everyone tries to move closer to their workplaces. Every major change in the structure of the economy impacts something else.

I can' think of a worse idea. This gas thing is temporary. It is a bubble. Then you will be in the or right outside of the City stuck with high taxes and a poor place to raise your kids. Low taxes and take the drive to the outer country burbs. It is only 40 dollars more a month than you were already paying people. Please stop and think. I think everyone can cut back 40 a month by just cutting out one small luxury. One dinner out. your daily Starbucks stop...etc.

Unfortunately, if you want to buy something new that's "closer in" to the city, your only option is attached housing. Shared walls, more noise, less privacy... No thanks.

The real problem is most of us live and work in the suburbs. There is little in the way of public transit that helps in that situation. My son and wife who have a jobs in the city take the bus to work. I would too if it were available.

I'm living with a relative now as I save money to purchase my first home. I'm in my 20's, single and work fairly long hours. Right now, the 30 mile round trip commute isn't killing my wallet, but the time it takes (30 - 60 minutes) is driving me up the wall. When I purchase my home, it will be 2-5 miles from work and I'll likely also invest in a scooter to get me there at 85 mpg. Using less gas is just as important to me in terms of saving money as it is on reducing my impact on the environment. For me, the pluses to living in town include spending less on gas and less time on the road, as well as living closer to my friends and entertainment options. All in all, it will be an improvement well worth my time spent out in the burbs.

I have moved to a small city and only have to walk two blocks to go to work. I am putting my van up on blocks and do not plan to use it in the near future. Our police department has cut the number of cruisers that patrol in half. I suggest that Congress takes some drastic measures to conserve oil and fuel. Our military still thumbs their noses and continues to use fuel as if it is a Niagara Falls. I am writing my Senator and Representatives to temporarily disband the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds and forbidding them from perfoming in any more airshows. These F-18 Eagles use 80,000 gallons of jet fuel for each show. That is outrageous. Write your Senator to downsize the military's use of oil.

Unless I was already in market to move, or to purchase new vehicle, neither are wise financial decisions simply to save gas.
The transaction costs for even a used vehicle with double the mileage of a current vehicle will take up to 5-7 yrs to recoup.
The transaction costs for purchasing house, packing, moving, unpacking would take decades to recoup.
For now, save on less ice cream, bags of doritos, modify driving habits, have almost made up for my extra fuel expenses.
Further, closer to urban areas usually mean more expensive auto insurance.

I'm generally no fan of long commutes and outer suburbs, either. Even if the fuel cost is zero the time lost and traffic aggravation is significant. I went from 2 hours of commuting down to 40 minutes when I got my first apartment nearer to a job I had. I could take any of 3 bus lines to a train station, and the company was located on top of another one down the line. It took 20 minutes each way. Incredibly, the company subsidized parking but didn't help with transit passes (in the 8 years I was there that was reversed). Getting the time back for exercise or reading or other personal uses was huge.

Many people also have "too much house" in the suburbs, to where the upkeep and maintenance required, plus the added utility bills, put a real dent in quality of life. They'll get 2-3 hours of commuting, 9-10 at work (including lunch and unpaid overtime the boss wants), and then feel guilty if the weekends aren't heavily yardwork or other HGTV stuff. Live to work. Maybe it increases the house value (or did), but you'll never get the time back.

Seems especially ironic that Europeans, with the high gas prices, still use the 4-6 week annual vacations to go places and are very good at frugal traveling. Contrast that with suburbanites who have tens of thousands of "non-discretionary" car or SUV miles where they just have to pay what the price is for gas, and it causes enough hardship to force "staycations" (where they paint the house and take calls from work!) Not a great quality of life, IMO. Though many people grew up with it and haven't been fortunate to see any other way of doing things.

I have always arranged to live within 5 miles of work and can't imagine doing anything different. Who wants to waste more than an hour a day driving back and forth to work?? I might move closer still, but I never spent the time or money on commuting anyway.

Though I agree that moving into towns would reduce our energy consumption, there are a couple of short term things that could be done that would really help, now - and at low cost.

In LA where traffic is always a nightmare, we had wonderful results for the Olympics by getting cities to synchronize their lights. And add triggers so that lights do not automatically change when there is no need. It worked like a champ, but within six months, was allowed to lapse back into the mess we have today.

If we did this in every city (including LA), I am sure we could cut our gasoline demand across all of the major metro areas

Two years ago, I applied for and accepted a better position in another city. I moved my family to within 4 miles of the new job. Because I live very close now and drive a reasonable car (Toyota Corolla), the high prices have had absolutely no impact on our lifestyle. In fact, I feel like I being patriotic. You can too!

We are moving 40% closer within the next year, and yes, costs are a significant though not most important consideration. When deciding between two houses, we chose the one that was 7 miles ploser to our work for each of us -- a gallon a day savings. No matter the price of gas now or in the future, we're going to make modest but meaningful changes in our lifestyle to accomodate this significant presnt and future cost.

I live 66 miles from work. Instead of moving I was able to change my shift from 5-8 hour days to 3-12 hour days. Along with that I purchased an older pickup truck and a slide in camper. I drive down on Friday mornings, spend 2 nights away from home and drive back Sunday evening. Not only has that cut down on my fuel costs and time "on the road" tremendously, I now have 4 days off each week.

My wife, 4 kids and I live in a small 3-bedroom row home in a little town just outside of Philadelphia. It's one of the original suburbs, built following the introduction of the railroads in the 1850's. We might be able to have a bigger place if we moved farther outside the city, but then we would need a second car and we would have to go almost everywhere by car. As is, we have one car. I have a choice of 2 different train lines to take to work. We often walk to the store, the doctor's office, library, the park, the pharmacy, etc. Now, we even take longer walks than I ever would have thought of back when I lived in a more typical suburb. The other day, my daughters and I walked 40 minutes to the dentist. It was a beautiful day, and along the way we even chatted with a couple strangers we passed. One of my older brothers once laughed at me when I said how we'd like a bigger place, but we can't afford one near any of the train lines. "The train?! Are you kidding me?!" he said. Like many, many people in this country, he's never experienced such a lifestyle and has trouble seeing the benefits of it. One good side of these gas prices (along with the lengthening automobile commutes) is that others are waking up, realizing that at least in some places, you do have a choice.

I used to live 27 miles away from my job got tired of the commute so i moved about two years ago closer to work and i love it! now i save a lot of time and money and i'm happier.

As a Realtor, I can say that customers are definitely considering gas prices in their buying decisions of a new home. However, as a "City to Country Specialist" I can also say there are definite advantages to living out of the city and enjoying a farm or mini-farm lifestyle, which not only can save you money in everything from purchase prices, property taxes, groceries (should you grow and or raise your own - which also is healthier for you and then can save you money not only with groceries but possibly with doctor bills, etc...) the list goes on with the benefits of rural living. And I'm only talking about an average of 30 to 45 minutes to downtown Cincinnati.
It's not a lifestyle for everyone but people really should look at the whole picture and not just the cost of gas. Now, as a Realtor - I can honestly say that the cost of gas has really affected my business with both my "city" customers and "country" customers. Customer loyalty is greatly appreciated. (Not long ago, I spent over $150 in gas showing customers around for the "perfect" house, only to have customers buy a house with another agent on a whim. ouch!)

AMERICA ISN'T EUROPE-and wasn't built around HORSE CRAP and buggy.

MILITARY/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: "TRADING YOUR WORTHLESS SUV in for half a car-@ 2x the price-now PREDICTABLY built in MEXICO.

On the ISLAND of JAPAN: Folks have to trade car in every 3 yrs AND/OR if car HAS A DENT. 'SOME' politicians would like same 'control' of US citizens.

HOW IS IT THAT ENERGY/FOOD are NOT INCLUDED IN CPI inflation index???

GAS/FOOD-only items that one CANNOT BUY USED/SUBSTITUTE-for.

SO LIBERAL JUDGE GETS FREE GAS for MERCEDES. . .WHILE ANGRY ELECTORATE votes REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE and-TAXE RATE-for CORPORATE''LIBERAL JUDGES'.

LOWER TAX RATE ALLOWS FOLKS TO CREATE-good jobs for ILLEGAL RESIDENTS-while radio jocks handring.