The cost of fuel

have you seen the whatsy in one of the 4wd mags about diesel/lpg...apparently the 2 are mixed together.....

got an 80 on lpg..wouldnt have bought the thing if it wasnt on lpg!! it costs less to run it compared to the futura!! nice!!
Laura B

HAPPY INSIDE WHEN IM OUTSIDE

Yeah some of us don't have the luxury of having $60,000 and $20k to lose on resale.

For us it has impacted us in a huge way. We had an entire DVD of video with music I compiled for 2004 of the places we went camping. Last year was a little hampered by the arrival of my daughter, but this year looks to be very dismal and it's all down to the cost of fuel. I've only been camping twice this year and they were both within 150k's of home. If you want to explore WA, you need to do k's. K's cost too much money for us with a young family and me studying full time now. But bugger me if I'm not still going to go to these close places, maybe I've been there 100 times before, but I'll go back. I have to go somewhere, otherwise I get grumpy and irritable.

I choose not to own a house in favour of other lifestyle options. You cannot have everything. It comes down to choice.

Good on you for that choice too! We are struggling like buggery at the moment, but what we have done was a life style choice too and there is a light at the end of the tunnel we just have to suck it in and keep pressing on in the mean time.

We are very lucky in that we bought our house before the market went APE over here so we are paying less for our morgtage than we would be renting this place. Only paid $150k for this place 4 years ago (man you eastern staters must be weeping over that!!) LOL

Funny though cos it's nice to think "WOW we could sell it and double our money!!". But what are you going to do with it? Buy another house for more? Not exactly going to help much is it! ;-)

Congratulations, I think you are doing well and making good choices. I have been there and done that (I couldn't afford big trips then either). I am no longer interested in that lifestyle. My choices have changed.

Getting off topic a bit.

My point is, if your choice is to travel, unless you are going to do it as a 'swaggie', the overall costs involved for comfort, safety, and maintenance far outweigh the overall costs for fuel. Fuel seems to attract far more attention in the equation than it deserves. Maybe it is because the cost comes in dribs & drabs rather than big hits, or the fuel doesn't last like tyres, fridges, vehicle, etc, However their collective depreciation is probably greater than the fuel costs.

Yeah I hear you. I guess the thing that get's to me is when we planned this whole thing that we are doing now I kitted out the 4by, got all the good camping gear had it all setup while we had money so that we could still travel, holiday etc on our then soon to be tight budget. (we had a 5 year plan). The only real expense would be some minor maintence and FUEL. Of course now I've got this awsome setup sitting in the driveway which I can barley afford to take the kids to school in!! DOH!! It's just a little frustraing. I put $20 in the take today. That used to give me about 20L, today barley 15. It doesn't sound like much, but it's amazing how much it adds up when your on a budget. And these crappy 4c per L doovas are a drop in the ocean. WOW I pay a $1.27 instead, WOOHOO! Doesn't even save me enough to buy a coffe chill on a whole tank. Oh well, it's a sign of the times. Johnny ain't going to do much about it cos he's making too much money from it, the oil companies are going to becuase (as we've all seen recently) they are making BILLIONS out of it. So, it might be time to start buying home brand vegi oil and mixing it 50/50... Probally be fine in the summer and if I can get it for $1 per litre, might be worth considering...

Hello Jeff M

I have been where you are financially, in fact it's a common situation for young marrieds who dont have rich parents . Suggestion to progress is not to sell the house , but to invest the increased equity you have . With the deposit you payed , loan repayments for four years , and the big increase in value , you must have in excess of $150,000 to play with . One scenario would be to visit country towns looking for posotively geared investment properties. That is , you borrow against the value of the house you own , and the house you are buying , so there is no cash required for a deposit . The loan repayments are 8.8% and to be posotively geared the net rent has to cover the loan repayments . The advice of a licenced investment advisor is vital , but your bank could help there .

Just keep going. Eventually (seems forever LOL) you suddenly realise your on the other side.

Yeah thanks guys, it's always hard when your income takes a big backwards step, especially with the extra costs of a new bub, but it'll be ok, we have some wins in the future with the missus work so that should be good. Once I get my teaching degree we will deffinatally be looking in some nice country towns, we can ship around a bit with my work if we want or I can just relief in the city for a while. If we find a teaching job somewhere nice like bridgtown, pemberton, busso, or something like that in the future we might just pack it all up, get a few achers and bugger off, but time will tell with that one!! Will all be good either way!!

Hi Jeff,

Good luck with your studies. Hubby and I were both full-time adult students and our income was pathetic during that time although we did enjoy it and still managed a few cheap trips here and there. But there is light at the end of the tunnel so stick with it. It only took us two years after graduation to recoup our lost income and even though we both still have student loans to pay back we are streets ahead and doing things we never thought possible.

:o) Melissa

Yeah while I was working (70km round trip to work and back) I had a little 3cyl banger from my mum to drive, saved me and ARM and a LEG and didn't wear out the MTR's and put miles on the 4by. Not a bad solution really.

Yeah that's what we have been trying to do, put the $20 a week aside. It's been a little hard for us since Christmas, but we are starting to get our heads back above water and will start doing it again ASAP.