Here's a little math for you. My car holds 15 gallons of gas. It would cost me $150 per tank. When I was commuting 15 miles one way and add in 10 miles both ways per day to my babysitter (I am raising a grandson) that is 40 miles per day. And that's five days a week.That does not include the grocery store or other necessary trips. To get the grocery store on foot, I would have to cross a five lane bridge over the interstate that has no sidewalks. It's a couple of miles to the cheaper store. Four miles roundtrip. People are killed trying to cross that bridge every year. I could walk the four miles one way to the other grocery store. I'd be crossing a major highway with six lanes and no cross walk and added islands/medians in between the opposing lanes. On the other side of the highway there are no sidewalks.
I changed churches to one that is only seven miles away. That is fourteen miles round trip. Julian needs church. It comforts him and helps him cope with the events of the last couple of years, all the losses and traumas. He is treated like family and very cherished. He serves as an acolyte as well.
I'd say that being careful and making sure all trips are well planned, helps a lot. Like going to the post office on the way to pick up groceries and dropping off library books when I pick up Julian at the babysitter's who lives by Georgetown library. We order books on line from other libraries and pick them up there. Still, I use a tank of gas every 9 days. I get from 22 - 25.5 miles per gallon. So if I purchase three to three and a half tanks per month, that's $450 to $525 or more for gas. Either one of those was more than I cleared in a week on a paycheck. It's doubtful I will draw that much at my next job. With gas at $10, food prices will rise stupendously. They are already rising very quickly. Last summer milk jumped from $2 per gallon up to $ 4 and more per gallon. Bread is up, everything is up.