Money, Love, and Change

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I have mentioned in some previous posts about how my husband’s old job is being relocated to China.  He recently found a job with the same company in a different building, and things are going ok.  The commute is still long though - about 70 miles round-trip per day.  He used to commute to work with a friend in the same department, but his friend had to find a different job as well.

My husband and his friend have decided to start carpooling again - their new jobs are relatively close in terms of distance, and are settled into their jobs to the point that things have become predictable in terms of hours.  This is really exciting for us for the following reasons:

1. We will be saving money on gas.  It’s a little tough to estimate exactly how much - the gas gauge on the truck doesn’t work, so my husband fills up when the trip odometer is somewhere in 300 mile range.  Some weeks he fills up once, and other times twice.  It costs between $35-$40 each time.  I haven’t been separating our gas costs by vehicle, so to be safe I would estimate that we will be saving about $75 a month.
2. Perhaps more importantly, we will be increasing the life span of the truck.  It’s getting closer to 200,000 miles, and anything we can do to cut down on the mileage is great.  Every time we take it in for an oil change, there have been small repairs.  The less we take it in to the shop, the better!
3. It’s good for the environment.
4. My husband won’t have to physically drive to and from work a couple of days of the week.  The drive is mostly scenic, but the last 10 miles is beltway and traffic jams.  Not having to be the driver a couple of days a week is a nice change of pace.
5. My husband also gets to renew a friendship.  Now that they work in different locations, it is difficult for he and his friend to get together.  This will give them the chance to catch up.

I am hoping that the money saved will counter the increasing gas and food prices.  I would like to think that we could snowflake some of the money, but I think it is more realistic to expect to break even.

Would you consider carpooling?  Why or why not?