Wall Street has a hard time rejoicing, but consumers are delighted at America’s falling gasoline prices.
In Pittsburgh, drivers are paying about $2.17 a gallon these days, a number not seen at the pump since early 2009. That’s 81 cents less than what they paid in June.
Based on a 12-gallon-a-week fill-up, that’s an extra $9.72 in your pocket. You can fritter it away on two fat-filled lattes or treat it as the serious cash it is — $505 a year. That’s money that can do a lot of good for you or someone else, if you put your mind to it. Here are 10 ideas:
• Start a college fund for your child or grandchild.
• Send it to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which can use it to buy a ton of fresh oranges.
• Boost your retirement savings. (What do you mean you don’t have retirement savings?)
• Support the building fund of the proposed wellness center for Animal Friends, which saves animals from abuse and abandonment.
• Put it aside for those shrubs and trees you’ve been meaning to plant but never had the money to buy.
• Contribute to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, where the gift would pay for 14 children to attend after-school programs for three months.
• Create a family entertainment fund — for movies, pizza, etc. — so you can enjoy each other’s company again.
• Give it to the Light of Life Rescue Mission on the North Side, where it will mean a night of shelter to a dozen homeless men.
• Buy that computer you keep promising yourself (so you can read the Post-Gazette’s e-edition, among other things).
• Send it to Meals on Wheels at Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania, which will deliver 200 meals to shut-ins.
These are 10 good ideas. All you need is one of your own.
First Published: January 2, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
