When Jacqueline Jones goes to the grocery stores, she skips over the expensive snack foods her two children enjoy. She, like many others, is looking for ways to find room in her budget for increasing gas prices.

With prices ranging from $2.92 at several Davenport stations Friday afternoon to $3.39 for a gallon of regular gas in Milan, motorists are feeling the pressure.

"I've felt it a lot," said Ms. Jones, a single mother who works part-time and goes to school in addition to driving her children to their track and softball activities. "It seems like I'm getting gas every other day. I'm constantly putting gas in."

Ms. Jones lives in Rock Island and takes classes at Western Illinois University's campus in Moline.

"It's hard for me when you only have one income coming in," she said. "I had to cut down on groceries a little bit. That's kind of hard to do. I had to cut down on certain things that (the kids) like."

Drivers across the country are paying near-record prices for gasoline and for those living paycheck to paycheck, the increase is evident.

Clients served by Project NOW, a community outreach agency, are struggling to fill up, said Mo Hart, executive director of the agency. Although Project NOW doesn't give out vouchers specifically for gasoline, they do have other services that can help.

"(Clients) might come in and ask for bus vouchers or food pantry vouchers," she said. "They will ask for utility money, or for rent money or for food money or for clothing vouchers. They are working around the gas, but that is the factor that's throwing things off."

Some clients are having trouble getting to work with the increasing gas prices.

"You take a tight budget with no excess and you increase on piece of that and another piece has got to give and that's what we see happening," she said. "Transportation in general is a huge issue among the poor. It's pretty hard to tell your boss you don't have enough for gas."

In 2005, low-income households spent more than 9 percent of their after-tax income on gasoline, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Friday's nationwide average for a gallon of regular gas was $3.119, up from $3.034 a month ago and $2.888 a year ago, according to motorist club AAA.

"When you are living in poverty, everything is so intertwined," Ms. Hart said. "Any one thing that changes can really throw a family into crisis."

Some of those struggling because of high gas prices may be dealing with it in other ways, like seeking out high-interest pay day loans, or using high-interest credit cards.

"That's a really awful thing to see," Ms. Hart said. "People do what they need to do."

Ametra Carroll, co-director of the Hope House, said that agency also has a meal site and clothing giveaways to help low-income families have extra money available for gas.

Ms. Carroll said she too is conscious of the high prices, especially when she wants to visit family in Chicago.

"I think about the gas every time I think of going there," she said. "I find myself not going certain places. I just go to work and go home."

Ms. Jones said she limits trips when possible, too.

"It's definitely added stress," she said. "You have to cut down."