Gas prices are now firmly entrenched at $4.00 a gallon. Every mile you drive is the most expensive mile that has ever been. That’s why you’re probably starting to shed some of the miles you used to drive.

Some of those miles are easy to forget, like an extra trip to the store. Some of those miles can’t be skipped, like your commute to work. Since you have to work, you need to know how much it costs to get to work.

No matter how much it costs to go to work, you have to spend it to make a living. As the price of gas continues to rise, that switch you used to take for granted is now starting to cost you big bucks.

Here are some examples.

At $4.00 per gallon of gasoline:
If you have a 25 mile round trip per day
Work 5 days a week
You get 20 miles to the gallon
Monthly cost $108.25
Annual cost $ $1,300.00

At $4.00 per gallon, your trip is costing you $108.25 per month or $1,300.00 per year.

If the cost of gasoline is $4.50 per gallon:
If you have a 25 mile round trip per day
Work 5 days a week
You get 20 miles to the gallon
Monthly cost $121.78
Annual cost $ $1,462.50

At $4.50 per gallon, your commute to and from work will cost you $121.78 per month or $1,462.50 per year.

If the cost of fuel reaches $5.00 per gallon
If you have a 25 mile round trip per day
Work 5 days a week
You get 20 miles to the gallon
Monthly cost $135.31
Annual cost $ $1,625.00

At $5.00 per gallon, which many predict we could see in the near future, your monthly cost is $135.31 and your annual cost to drive to and from work is $1,625.00.

In essence, you could be paying $1,625.00 for the privilege of going to work.

That’s for a 25 mile trip. That means you live 12 to 13 miles from your place of work. For many, that is not the case. Certainly, it is not unusual to live 25 to 30 miles from your workplace.

At a distance of 25 miles from your home to your place of work, your round trip would be double the previous examples. That means she could be spending up to $3,350.00 per year to go to work. If that’s the case, you better have a high-paying job.

If you drive that far to earn $30,000 to $40,000 a year, you’re spending about 10 percent of your gross salary just to get to and from work. It would definitely be in your best interest to look for some alternatives to your situation.

The ideal situation would be to live as close as possible to your place of work. Of course, in many cases that is not realistic. Then you need to think of ways you can mitigate that roundtrip expense with other ways to save money and gas.

You have to work. You have to earn a living. To do that you need to get to your workplace. You need to be aware of what your commute to your workplace is costing you. As the price of gasoline continues to rise, it becomes an increasingly important factor in your workplace decisions.