With gas prices rising rapidly, let’s talk about ways to reduce your gasoline expense.
- Find some friends either at work, or neighbors who work in the same general vicinity as you, and set up a rotating car pool. You can use email or classified ads to find people, as well as posting flyers in your neighborhood. Be creative. Someone might not live next door, but they might be PASSING BY your neighborhood on the way to work. On days you drive, they can leave their car at your house. Or you can just pay them for the gas.
- Keep your car tuned up, oil changed, and tires properly inflated so that you can get the maximum gas mileage at all times. Proper air pressure in tires can have a great effect on mileage.
- Run your A/C less. Save it for genuinely hot days or when you’re stuck in hot, slow moving traffic. When you have a little speed, open the windows and use your “4×60 Air conditioning” (four windows down at 60 miles per hour).
- Drive like “a little old man”. Slow starts, easy stops, reasonable speed, don’t “gun” the gas pedal. This will greatly increase your gas mileage.
- Don’t waste your time or money or risk your car on gimmicks. Most additives are worthless, and outrageous claims of gas mileage are nonsense.
- Combine trips when possible. My wife and I plan to take care of other errands whenever we know we are forced to drive anyway. For example, we leave early (or go after) for some scheduled event to take care of a few quick shopping needs as well. Whenever you are forced to travel to a certain area of town, take a minute to consider if there are other things that are going to pop up soon that will cause you to drive to the same area.
- Call home before going home… my wife and I always try to call each other when we are already “out” somewhere. Frequently, this saves a trip. “Honey, I’m on the way home, do you need me to stop anywhere on the way home?” “I had to run by Walmart, is there anything you need while I’m here?”[TIPJAR]
- Consider pooling trips with friends. Why drive to shop for groceries alone? Arrange with a neighbor to take turns driving every other time.
As I talk about “reducing expenses” this idea of “neighbor sharing” will come up a lot. We all tend to exist in a vacuum individually. We could all save a lot of money by pooling time, effort, expense and other resources. Of course, you actually have to know and care about your neighbors to do that. But that’s a lesson for another blog and post.
Well, that’s my list off the top of my head. Send me YOUR ideas for saving gas, and I’ll amend them to this blog post along with a link to your website or blog or email if you wish. Email me…
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Reader submissions:
- Ride to worship services together. So many have become accustomed to riding separately because of various reasons. This may require you to work out a plan that will work for all concerned. If one person tends to be late then work out a plan to get up earlier. Glenda Thomas; http://www.glendathomas.com/