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Gas prices have tumbled in the past few weeks as peak travel season has passed, and while it feels great to pay $.70 less than we were a month ago, we all need to keep conserving gas.  It was almost 4 months ago when I wrote Ten Tips for Saving Money on Gas, at that time gas was around the same price it is now, and everyone was starting to hurt.  Now, with gas back to where it was in May, people are celebrating and I must ask why?

We need to remember that the current price for gas STILL hurts, yes it has gotten better, and we are all somewhat breathing as sigh of relief, but remember it can get much better.  Just because gas prices have gone down does not mean you can stop carpooling.  It does not mean you can drive all over town without taking into consideration the cost of gas.  It does not mean you can now buy an SUV when you don’t need one, and it definitely does not mean you can have gasoline fights (I had to).  The bottom line is that if we continue on our road of less oil demand, simple economics tells us that the price will fall further.

America crossed it’s threshold of inelastic demand months ago, and we kept paying because we felt we didn’t have a choice, but by choosing to cut down on demand, the world has seen that Gas is somewhat elastic.  The message has been sent and received, but the message needs to become like those annoying calls from your mother, we need to send it way to often, and as we watch gas go down more, we need to remember, that the extra gas money we have can be put directly into savings and/or investments.

As a side note, I would like to thank Tropical Storm Fay for not turning into a Hurricane and heading into the Gulf to raise gas prices.  It did however cause some severe damage to Florida, please donate to the Red Cross to help cleanup efforts.

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