The Amish use credit cards, just like the rest of us.

If you just know a little of the usual stuff about the Amish, that sounds so hard to believe at first. After all, the Amish are known for living a rather quaint 19th century lifestyle. They drive horses and buggies. They eschew electricity. They don't have telephones or television sets. Surely, they don't use plastic.

But some do. I knew a little about that when I first started working on an article about the Amish, which ran yesterday on CreditCards.com, but until I started talking to some Amish businessmen, I hadn't given their use much thought. Nevertheless, they deal with high interest rates and occasional late fees like the rest of us. Still, their lifestyle does usually protect them from going into massive deep credit card debt, and it's worth thinking about.

You might think that by now, every angle of the gas price hike has been explored, but there are a couple of new nuggets out today. One, from Paul Kedrosky's "Infectious Greed," is a hard look at just how much driving has changed. He has numbers from the Union-Tribune on driving patterns in the San Diego area. It's just one small snapshot of the country, but it is probably being repeated in the same proportions everywhere.

Highway travel on major roads in that area is down across the board, with some down as far as 15 and 17%. The only region named that didn't have any major decrease was Los Angeles County during weekdays, which was unchanged.

The other group being hit by the gas price crisis? The Amish. Go figure. The headline, of course, is meant to stop people short, because we all know that the Amish don't drive in cars. But USA Today says that Amish craftsmen and farmers who use diesel fuel are feeling pinched. There's actually no restriction on using engines -- just not electricity -- explains an Amish expert.

I grew up in Amish country -- the heart of it in Lancaster, PA -- so this comes as no surprise to me. But what I'm waiting to see is how the Amish, who are masters of ingenuity, get around the fuel crisis. With all the corn that they grow, shouldn't we be seeing some innovations in ethanol?

I finally figured out how I can save a lot of money.

Become Amish.

Or at least start living like the Amish. Now, hear me out for a moment. I'm not thinking I would do this forever, maybe just a year. I could save a bundle on electricity, and there would be no Internet, telephone or cable charges to pay for. In one year, I will have saved up plenty of money, and I could use it to pay off debts and sock into savings. I don't see a problem with work. Sure, I need the Internet, but I could use my laptop and work from libraries, coffee houses and restaurants with free wi-fi service. Of course, my daughters and wife would probably stage a mutiny, and so I need to think about this.