We got a situation.
 

Well, we have a situation going on here at home. My wife just got a job at Holiday World. It's a theme park, about 15 miles from where we live. For now she is working about 4-5 hours a day, 6 days a week. Anyway, because of issues with the BMV on a car I bought with part of our tax money, she has to drive our Ford van. Well, apparently this van is really starting to suck the gas like it's going out of style. She put $20 in it on Monday to go to work, had Tuesday off, and had to get another $20 from me this morning for gas. If this trend continues I will end up having to subsidize her working, which ain't gonna happen cause money is really tight right now as it is and the whole idea behind her getting a job was to help out, not take from what is already coming in. I don't want to make her quit this job. I just want to find out why it is that any time she drives this van it uses twice the gas it uses when I drive it. As you can probly imagine, this is starting to cause an issue in my home. Anybody got any ideas on how to fix this problem? I've been trying to come up with something since this morning and am drawing a blank.

Weigh her feet and see how heavy they are................................

Have your wife stay home. :)

Hehehe. I just took her outside to make sure she is putting the van in the right position when she is driving it. It's one of those Fords with a "D" that has an "O" around it and just a regular "D". I thought maybe she was putting it in the regular "D" rather than in the overdrive one, but she says she is putting in the right gear. The thing I can't believe is that we are talkin about about 15 miles one way, so 30 round trip. At $3 per gallon roughly that would mean 4 miles to the gallon. The van gets 18 when I drive it. At any rate, I am going to see what I can do to get it checked out. Maybe it's got a bad sensor in it or something that only acts up when she drives it. LOL!

To work or not to work is her decision to make. Our children are old enough now that if she wants to work then there's no reason why she shouldn't be able to. I work from home now anyway, so what would be the point of both of us staying here at home all day with the children?

First how old is old enough? Couldn't you pull in some extra money?

It is a FORD...............................:lol:lol

The youngest starts 1st grade next year. I have always promised her that the door would be wide open for her to work or not work once we had all the kiddies in school full time. She's tried working in the past and it never has worked out, mainly because of childcare expenses.

I will concede that Fords use more gas than Chevys, but that has nothing to do with this van supposedly using this much gas when she drives it. :)

Brother Rico what are you really thinking?

BTW KUDOS to Brother Benincasa.When I had small children under school age I did not work.Infact I did not work until seven years ago and then only ten days
a month.I am working now more than I have ever worked.As soon as my hubbys
business picks up its good bye yellow brick road and hello yard work,gardening,sewing and more of a prayer life.Amen to that!I want to take and teach some courses.The life of always grinding out a dollar is not for me.
I don't mean to ruffle feathers but I love staying home and working full time for Jesus and cooking like crazy.My husband is considerably leaner.lol...I have not been making him enough gumbo.Though he will probably live longer because of it I miss doing it.Family life is the life I love and when you are forced
to work all the time the family life sinks.
I went back to college when my older daughter began school and when the younger one was
born I quit working.I began again when the baby was about four or five whenever she began
pre-K but then only ten days a month because we pastored full time and my husband had
a business.
God can make a way.I may not have always had all I wanted when I stayed home with the children
but its worth it.You can never replace those years.

Rico, has your wife ever considered doing home daycare?

That's what I do. I charge $2.25 per hour per child. That, of course, could be different in the area that you live in. I understand that there are areas of the country where home daycare people are getting $5.00 per hour for each child, but that would never fly here!!

I don't have to buy gas, get special clothes, or leave my children with someone else. Those are all big benefits in my book.

In our state we are allowed to have up to 6 children under the age of 6 in our care. So at $2.25 per hour, I can be making up to $13.50 per hour. I'll never get rich doing it, but I am also not the primary bread winner in our household, so that's fine with us.

Hehehehe. My wife is not the child watching type. She'd rather hear me complain about the money she is spending on gasoline than to watch someone else's children. Unless, of course, she could just send them all outside to play until their parents came to pick them up! :lol She'd probly do it then!:lol

I think what I am going to do is to work on getting this dispute with the State of IN settled so I can get this car licensed. At this point that will be the most cost effective route to take. I bought this car from someone in KY and IN will not title it or plate it because they are saying it was salvaged at some point in its history. I have to get a title history from the State of KY to show them before they will make the car legal.

Another option would be to get rid of this van, take this car to the junk yard, sell my boat, sell a laptop I have, put all the money together and see what kind of car we can get for her. She found one (conveniently :D) for $800 that she likes and I wouldn't have to get rid of everything to get it for her, so we will see what happens in the next few days. I know a fella that is interested in my boat and I also know someone interested in my laptop. :)

How bout riding a city bus?

Is she using the air conditioning on high?

A city bus? In this one horse county? :lol I am not laughing at you, Brother, but this post really made me laugh. We don't have any buses here. :lol

Praise God the a/c doesn't work or the crazy van would probly get 2 miles to the gallon when she drives it instead of 4! :lol

:D...Didn't you realize you were a rural area??...

She just left a little bit ago to go pick up her check. She is going to see if they can transfer her to another area of the park where she can get more hours. I feel bad for her because I know the last thing she wants is to spend all her money on gasoline. This is all my fault. If I were a better husband I could buy her that Buick she's always wanted and we wouldn't be having this problem right now. This kind of stuff really messes with my head.

I realize it every time I have to drive 15 miles to the nearest Wal Mart! LOL!

Wait until y'all read this!



The wife just got home from picking up her check and said she thinks she figured out why the van has been using so much gas. She said she normally drives 65-70 miles per hour on her way to work, but, because she was only going to get her check, she decided to only drive at 55 this time. Can you believe that it worked? The gas guage didn't go all the way down to empty on her way home! I am laughing so hard right now! :killinme I am still gonna see what I can do to get rid of this other car, boat, and laptop to be able to buy her this car she found for $800 though. I want her to be happy with the vehicle she is driving.

I seriously doubt that the van uses twice as much gas just because she is driving it. My suggestion: Get a better job and let your wife's job be a luxury, not a necessity. If your kids are little, let her stay home. If she really WANTS to work, she can do that as a secondary thing around the kids and you as you can work it out.

LOL! Well that would make a difference. Sounds like a different car would be better.

Gee, Sister, why didn't I think of getting a better job? ;) It would be nice if I could just wave a magic wand and make that happen. But, once I finish my training I will most certainly be able to find a better job. For now I am going to stay working from home. I am finally getting this thing figured out on how to get the hours I need to stay afloat.

Obviously that is a long term goal. But I think it needs to happen. :sshhh

I am very much hoping to figure out a way to get her what she wants. The van is pretty much a necessity with 4 children. We tried a mini van once and it worked fine until we went grocery shopping once with everyone in tow. You should have seen us piling kids on top of each other to get all the groceries in the crazy thing. :lol A nice Suburban would be cool but they use more gas too.

:killinme:killinme You should come to visit southern Indiana.

I am very excited about getting this training started. I start the 25th of this month. I should have my Associates in a year and a half and my Bachelors in three years. My understanding is job opportunities will start opening up for me once I get the Associates. I know they will be entry level, but entry level with a degree pays much better than lots of other things without one. I have heard that starting pay runs about $30K per year and that is more than I am making now so even that amount would be a blessing for us.

I laughed so hard when he suggested that. :killinme

Back in the day when the federal government required speed limits to be no more than 55MPH, the state patrol in SD didn't give you a speeding ticket if you were going up to 75MPH on the interstate. They gave you a lesser ticket for wasting fuel.:lol

That would make a difference.

That could work too.

Well, you know Michelle and her facial expressions. You should have seen the look on her face while she was explaining this to me. Classic "I coulda had a V8!" :lol

It was funny though. A place that you have to drive 10+ miles to get to a Wal Mart is definitely a one-horse town, but atleast you can get high-speed though. We don't even have that luxury.

:lol:lol:killinme

Sounds like she really needs a V6, honestly. ;)

Was it a Kodak moment? :lol

Get her a moped!

Move here to Rockport. The church will be closer, your friends will be closer, high speed is available so you can get one them internet work at home jobs, the list goes on and on. :)

I have been through your area many times. In fact, I laughed when he said take the city bus HA. Obviously he has never been to Southern Indiana.

I will be at Holiday World in July. I love all the rides there.

We might not be moving so fast now that life is slowed, but I will be getting my IT job before I graduate college and right now, we're staying put unless the house sells and then we go south. I would prefer to move to Georgia near Atlanta, but wifeypoo doesn't want to be near Atlanta.