Gas Prices and the Cost of Going to Work

Have you ever wondered how much you would save by NOT going into work?  I thought about that today and the number I came up with literally shocked me.  Check this out.  This is a typical day of just getting up and going to work for eight hours and coming back home.  


1. Round trip to work 45 miles and at 15 miles to the gallon, that means I used 3 gallons of gas and at $4 a gallon that figure comes out to $12
2.  I took a shower, washed my hair and blew it dry, gelled my hair and put on my cologne, dressed in my jeans and nice shirt so you figure with the cost of the clothes, that cost was about $36
3.  I drank 2 large cups of coffee before hitting the shower and figured that cost was about $3
4.  I made my cup of coffee and forgot it on the counter so I bought one at work which cost me $2
5.  I could not resist the danish and bowl of fruit and that sat me back about $4
6.  Noon time rolled around and I joined my co-workers for lunch and that cost me $11
7.  Sleepy from eating lunch, I had to have another cup of coffee so there was another $2
8.  Quitting time finally rolled up and I realized I was out of cigarettes so I picked up a pack for $6
9.  Finally home, I whipped up dinner which consisted of chicken patties and potato salad which cost me about $8
10. My cell phone kept vibrating while at work today and I had 7 voice mails I had to return calls to.  The daily cost of my cell phone $2


The cost was $86 for ONE day of going to work.  Can you believe that?  And that did not include the air conditioner I had to leave on at 90 degrees so my house would not melt while I was away.


Then I started thinking how much I had to make per hour just to be able to GO to work. You work 8 hours in a day and you have to pay at least 33% to taxes, so if you made $10 per hour, you would be losing money as you would only make $80 and then the taxes would be 26.40 so your left with $53.60 which would mean that I would have had to pay $32.40 just to work each day, providing I would forget my coffee each day and go to lunch with my co-workers and smoke!  Then I bumped it up to $15 an hour which came up to $120 then minus 33% which is $39.60 I would still be losing money as I would clear only $80.40.  Is that amazing or what?


So what does this tell us?  I know what it tells me!  It tells me that the prices we pay to simply live life is just getting IMPOSSIBLE to support.  And where do you think this is going to lead us?  Especially when you hear on TV that the average wage of American workers is dropping, where are we heading?  Do any of us take the time to do the simple math or are we all so busy running from one responsibility to another to just make ends meet that we can't even find a calculator?


What to do?  I know what I started doing.  I started preparing my lunch which now costs me an average of $4 per day.  I stopped smoking,  I have my instant coffee at my desk for those mornings I forget my coffee.  I stopped going to the cafeteria all together.  I now have a new sense of value to my wardrobe and I am now more kind to my clothes.  I also posted a ride share post-it at work and have two other fellow workers that live near me that share the ride to work AND the expense.  With these simple changes, I can now go to work each day and KNOW that I get to actually bring home a paycheck and stop chasing last weeks debt.  Try this, you will shock yourself.