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After years of enjoying relatively inexpensive gasoline, the price of a gallon of gas has finally caught American families in the wallet. How to pay for a greatly increased transportation cost is the question many families across the country are now contemplating. Eventually, we will all be parking our SUVs and driving hybrids, but until then, each family will need to analyze their own situation. My family recently completed the following three-step analysis to help us figure out what to do.

Step One: Estimate the increased annual fuel cost for the household.

Step Two: List options for cutting household expenses in order to pay for the increase.

Step Three: Examine the trade-offs of each option and select the least painful to implement.

Our family situation includes several challenges. With an active teen, a preteen and a three-year old, we are constantly on the go. Both older children are involved with travelling soccer teams and other after-school activities. In addition, we live in a rural area with a long commute to work, school and kids' activities. The recent run-up in gasoline costs is threatening our lifestyle, hence the need to analyze the problem and come up with some solutions.

First, we estimated our increased annual fuel cost. Our family utilizes two vehicles each week (a van, which gets 18-22 miles per gallon, and a small car, which gets 35-40 mpg). At three dollars per gallon, rather than the average of two dollars we had been paying, our cost increase per week is about $30 (ten more to fill up the small car and twenty more to fill up the van). Our weekly expense increase translates to $1,500 per year more for gas. How to pay for this was our next question. We came up with several options:

Option 1: Kids quit travel soccer leagues and join recreation leagues close to home. Savings: approximately $1,500 per year in league fees and travel expense.

Option 2: Sell van and buy a smaller, fuel-efficient vehicle for weekly commutes. Savings: $30 per week, or $1500 per year.

Option 3: Eat out less often by eliminating two quick service meals per week. Savings: $30 per week, or $1,500 per year.

Option 4: Sell house and move closer to work, school, and activities. Gas savings: $45 per week, or approximately $2,300 per year.

The option of selling the van was considered next. The van had been purchased to allow the entire family to travel in one vehicle. However, the family was often driving two cars to separate events anyway. The family was using the van mostly just for church (a short drive) and vacation (once a year). The trade off was eliminating the luxury of a larger, more comfortable vehicle for those times. If the van was to be traded in, the possibility of renting a van for our once-a-year vacation was suggested.

The third option was to eliminate weekly quick service meals the family had come to rely on. Instead, cold sandwiches and salads could be packed from home and loaded into coolers for eating on the run. The trade-off would be more work for mom (packing more food-to-go) and would force everyone to eat cold food from the cooler several times per week, instead of the (sometimes) hot food from a restaurant. The older teen and the parents did not feel this would present too much of a challenge, but the younger teen had grown quite accustomed to fries, chicken nuggets and a unique combo sub she claimed only Subway could do right.

Option 4 presented the most dramatic option: selling the house and moving closer to activities. The huge trade off here would be giving up the only home the children have ever known and giving up a peaceful, rural area in which to return to each evening. Moving to a more urban area was a large unknown in this option.

How did we select an option? Each seemed to offer similar savings in gas costs. It was simply a matter of the majority of family members selecting the least painful option. It was fairly easy to see that Option Three (fewer quick service meals) was the least painful and by far the least dramatic to implement. It would represent the least interruption in our lifestyle. The older teen was, on most days, happy with a cold supper packed from home. He didn¹t really care what he ate. He simply wanted food, food and more of it. The younger teen was a bit more subdued, gazing longingly out the car window as the Golden Arches went whizzing by. However, she is learning that a peanut butter and honey sandwich on whole wheat, a peach and a granola bar are far healthier than reprocessed chicken and potatoes fried in trans fats.

This simple trade off will allow our family to maintain our current lifestyle with minimal interruption. If gas costs continue to rise, we will have to again look at our options. The option to sell the van would be our next best option.

Your family's situation will be different, but all families' budgets will be affected by this challenge. Sit down with your children if they are old enough to understand, and enlist their brainstorming power to set forth a few options. Let everyone be part of the decision-making process so that when a choice is made, everyone understands the reasons for it. There are many ways to save money in a family budget. The important thing is to get everyone to agree on a solution. Be creative, be patient, be realistic with each other, and your family will be able to handle this gas crisis with a minimal interruption in lifestyle.

Lucynda Koesters is the author of Finding Your Way Home, How to Become a Successful Stay-at-Home Parent. Read an excerpt and find out much more about becoming a stay-at-home parent at her web site: homewardhearts.com.

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