The squeeze is on...

Here we go again. The price of oil has climbed over 100.00 a barrel in response to the instability in North Africa and the Middle East. This is the bumpy plateau of Mr. Hubbert's peak. In a matter of a couple of weeks we should see gas prices leap, heating oil prices skyrocket and food prices, already at highs, will become even more expensive. Takes a lot of diesel to move the food from California eastward.

In real life, main street, kitchen table terms it means that we are all gonna feel a squeeze. Some of us more than others. At our own breakfast table this morning we started trouble shooting ways to cope with the increasing prices.

Here is a partial list:

• We will eat less meat. We eat meat two or three times a week. We can cut this down to one or two times a week. And those meat meals can take the form of soups and stews.
• Mark car pools one day a week with a co-worker, maybe they can share another day.
• Because "town" is a lot closer, in our new community, we find that we drive in and out of town several times a day. We will see if we can cut down these trips.
• We will stock up on a few more staples like oils, flour and oats before their prices make a big leap. I will put the flour and the oats in my freezer. It is getting pretty empty in there and this will improve its efficiency.
• We will fill a gas can or two for our chainsaw. We don't pay for heating oil but our form of heating is still dependent of fossil fuels.
• I am going to follow Wendy's blog as she documents the next 21 days. Oh and I will pre-order her book too;)
• We will review things we can do to increase the gas mileage of our car.
• We can save some money on groceries by making our own cheese from local milk.
• It is time to start the Independence Days Challenge again!

Our family will be able to weather the oncoming price shocks with some wise adaptations but there are other families with tighter margins in their budgets who will have a hard time. So maybe instead of planting one row, I'll plant two.

I would also like to ask again if anyone could advise me on creating a button for the Plant-A-Row Challenge. I will have all participants listed by the end of the week. However, it is never too late to join the challenge!

So do you have any other tips to share?