As a young girl growing up in Northern Utah back in the early 1980s, my mom would drive my family’s brown station wagon down from our house on the hill to Barker’s Service Station at the bottom of the lane.

She would park the car next to the pump … and wait. In a few seconds, someone from inside the shop would hustle out, and come to the driver’s side window where he would greet us all with that same whiskered smile. He would bend down, poke his head through the window, and say, “What can I get for you today?” My mom – with six bouncing kids in the car and as I recall, no working seatbelts – would say the same thing each and every time, “Ten dollars of regular please.”

It turns out my mom was probably feeling the same way about filling up the gas tank way back then as I do today. A big, old OWCH!

Before gas prices really started to take off in 1981, you could fill up for less than a dollar a gallon.  In 1976 the average price was a slim 60 cents a gallon. But when the decade turned, the price for gasoline started to go up and up.

“It really hasn’t reached a level it did in 1982, but it’s approaching it,” said Kay Smith, an economist at the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a CNN Money article. “It’s becoming a burden.”

In just one year the price of gas has risen 79 cents a gallon. And just wait, we have not even hit the warm weather months yet!

Some estimate gas prices will reach $4 this summer. Although the EIA projects gasoline prices to average about $3.70 per gallon during the peak driving season (April through September) with considerable regional and local variation. Aside from the good time gas prices of 1988 ($1.77, adjusted for 2010 inflation) and 1998 ($1.36, adjusted for 2010 inflation), the price of gas has always had a bit of a dynamic role in the household budget.

When gas prices started to hit a record high in 1982 my mom did some creative budgeting. She watched how her routes affected the mileage, and she started to think about how to be more efficient while on the road. Today, the same concept holds true for many commuters who are evaluating closely how they rack up mileage just getting to work.

According to U.S. Census data, the 10 cities with the longest commute are:

1. New York – 35.2 minutes
2. Washington DC – 32.8
3. Atlanta – 31.2
4. Riverside – 31.1
5. San Francisco – 31
6. Chicago – 31
7. Baltimore – 29.8
8. Houston – 28.8
9. Los Angeles – 28.8
10. Boston -28.5

Many of these cities also just so happen to be in areas that have the highest gas prices for the week.  Gasbuddy.com puts together weekly updates showing a thematic heat map of the highest gas across the country. This is a great tool for showing regionally how gas prices have changed week over week.

Additionally, by putting in your zip code you can quickly find the cheapest gas in your area. No need to drive around wasting gas looking for a good deal on the stuff.

Other apps, Gas Chubby and Cheap Gas, are also available to help drivers find the best price.

Barkers Service Station is long gone, torn down years ago to make way for bigger and better buildings. Today, when I pull up to the local pump, I am greeted only by the message on the credit machine asking me if I will be paying outside or inside. What has not changed, however, is the relationship of constant adjustment with the ever-rising, and sometimes falling, gas prices.