I added a page on the left to try to track our driving a little better.

http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/driving-log.html

As with a cash budget, we need to look at our driving habits and see where the drains are.

I mentioned in my last post that my commute really costs little, but that one of our biggest luxuries is really the ability to drive anywhere/anytime.

Of course, as it comes with a higher price, it is something we need to evaluate.

We highly value being able to see visit family.

We highly value traveling around and doing hikes, etc. (So much we would give up our vacation budget to keep the freedom to travel more on a regular basis, within the state).

So we place very high value on being able to pick up and go on longer car rides.

& commuting is not a very expensive endeavor - a fill up twice a month would cover my commute and probably even both of the kids' school commutes.

So everything else is the drain that we want to close so we can enjoy our two extremes.

For now, just trying to keep track and see where we are at.

Dh has been a little Craigslist crazy, but assured me he was considering gas prices in his cost analysis.

I also had to add when I was a kid we never went on vacations, so they aren't terribly important to me (know kids will survive without and appreciate them more with age). The reason being is my parent's entire vacation budget (little as is) generally went to drives to the mid-west every year or 2 to visit family.

Needless to say, I am extremely jealous how close the kids are to their grandparents and cousins. I find that whole thing to be priceless.

They've been staying less with Grandma lately because we have been less inclined to drive, and I assume she has been too (has not asked as much). But she did slip us $60 when we picked up the kids sunday, for gas, so maybe we will get some help there too in ensuring we don't slow down our visits with gas prices. We assumed they had been feeling the pinch too, but I guess it was her way of saying she wants to see the kids more during the summer.

Our gas tolerance is probably rather high. We moved 2 hours away to significantly cut our cost of living. So upping our gas budget to stay in touch is a-okay with us. The alternative is pay $500k+ for a house to live closer. Ugh. So anyway, keeping our living costs so low in comparison, we knew moving here we would have a high gas budget to keep in close touch with family. Particularly since we had kids. I think they are so lucky to have the opportunity to be so close to their extended family.