the cost of living
Oct. 26th, 2005 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanYesterday I filled up my car's gas tank for "only" $2.41 a gallon ($25 for the tank). That's still a lot higher than before Hurricane Katrina, but also a lot lower than the craziest post-Katrina highs. This morning it was down another two cents to $2.39.
Then just now I bit the bullet and called the oil company and told them to come fill up my tank at the apartment. It's supposed to get down into the 30s (F) tonight, and I've been running the heat the last few nights already, and the tank was under 1/4, so I knew I had to do it. The lady said the current price is $2.49/gallon. Their minimum order is 100 gallons. I sighed, gritted my teeth, and told her to give me 200 gallons and put it on my credit card. I think 200 gallons is about half a tank, and I have nooooo idea how long that will last, but hopefully at least a month? I dunno. Whatever. Sigh.
life is expensive.
Then just now I bit the bullet and called the oil company and told them to come fill up my tank at the apartment. It's supposed to get down into the 30s (F) tonight, and I've been running the heat the last few nights already, and the tank was under 1/4, so I knew I had to do it. The lady said the current price is $2.49/gallon. Their minimum order is 100 gallons. I sighed, gritted my teeth, and told her to give me 200 gallons and put it on my credit card. I think 200 gallons is about half a tank, and I have nooooo idea how long that will last, but hopefully at least a month? I dunno. Whatever. Sigh.
life is expensive.
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Date: 2005-10-26 09:14 pm (UTC)HOLY SHIT!!!!!
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Date: 2005-10-26 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-27 01:22 am (UTC)FWIW, the price of gasoline is about 30 cents more per gallon here than where you live.
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Date: 2005-10-27 02:14 am (UTC)The way in which the heat gets transferred from the furnace to the apartment is separate from the way in which the heat gets created in the first place. You can have steam heat, forced hot air heat, radiant heat, etc., and any of those can be powered by gas, electric, or oil. Or kerosene or propane, I guess. Around here electric heat seems to be rare and most places are either gas or oil.
I actually have no idea how long 200 gallons will last. It's probably more than a month. I should remember this from last winter, but I don't. But also, as you may recall, my furnace's ancient age and lack of efficiency was the big reason I wanted to upgrade it. I seem to recall the home inspector saying that he would guess the furnace runs at about 15-20% efficiency, which means that if I had a better furnace, the same amount of oil would last 5 times as long.
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Date: 2005-10-27 05:37 am (UTC)