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Feeling a Little Gassy?
Well, gas prices are 'down' to a national average of under $3.00 a gallon; however, that is still enough of an expense for tips on how to save when at the pump to be of interest.
The first and most obvious step is to simply drive as little as possible. This is not only frugal living on your part, but good stewardship of our earth's resources.
Search for the lowest gas prices online, before you head out the door. My favorite two web sites for accomplishing this are GasBuddy.com and GasPriceWatch.com.
Now make certain that the gas station with the best price is on your way to somewhere you were already going. Always try to buy your gas mid-week whenever possible, since most stations raise their prices on the weekends, and particularly on holiday weekends. Also, look for gas stations that offer a reduced price per gallon if you pay in cash, versus paying with a credit card.
Make sure you remember to put your gas cap back on securely after filling up. Also, investing in a locking gas cap may be wise. When gas is as expensive as it has been, it seems some folks may stoop to increasing their mpg by dramatically decreasing yours.
When driving around town don't run the A/C unless you really cannot bear not to. If you are on the freeway, however, the air friction from having the windows open could actually lower your mpg, so go ahead and enjoy your A/C.
Going from being a two-car family to a one-car family may seem traumatic, and perhaps even impossible, however I challenge you: park one car for 30 days. Vow to not use it under any circumstances. Even double working couples have found they can make this work, by being creative; however, single income families are usually extremely successful, and amazed at the savings realized by giving up the second car.
If you’re are not sure what gas mileage your car is getting, you can easily gauge that by writing down the odometer reading or resetting the trip meter to zero each time you fill up your tank. Then, when you get gas, take note of the mileage and how many gallons it takes to fill the tank back up. Calculate the difference in mileage, which is how many miles you have driven since you last bought gas, and divide it by how many gallons of gas it takes to fill up. For example, if you drove 100 miles and it takes 5 gallons of gas to fill your tank back up, you're getting 20 mpg. Keep these simple notes for at least a month, so that you can average in the different conditions you encountered over that course of time.
Keep your car in peak operating condition. This means getting oil changes, new air filters and checking the engine regularly. Consult your owner's manual for recommended service dates. Make sure your tires are inflated properly, and rotate them as necessary.
Using Public Transportation More
There are 3 drivers in our family and one full blown teenage boy with a social life.
In regards to saving money on transportation/car and gas, we insisted that our two oldest (with some help
from us in regards to schedules, etc) learn to use the public bus and train systems available to them for the past 5 years in the different cities we have lived in.
We did not just set them free to find out how to use these systems. Usually, we assisted in mapping out the routes and rode each route with them atleast twice in advance so that they would be familiar with the way things worked. They never rode on their own before the age of 14. It is important to note that Europe and Japan makes more extensive use of public
transportation and that their children use the public system when they are very young.
This accomplished several things:
1. The kids learned how complicated this could be yet took the scariness out of public transportaion.
2. This is a good way, now that they are older, for
them to get to the mall, an interesting store, errands, and college without us constantly taking them. This also reduce the needing to use a car for these situations
3. They become familiar with their community and public transportation options in case of an emergency.
4. This prepares them for a world that needs to decongest the highways so that we spend less time backed up in traffic.
5. There are many times when my kids have chosen to carpool because they are more comfortable not always needing a car at their disposal.
6. Instead of taking a bus to school all the time (which by the way, we have to pay for services), our
son rides his bike about 1 mile every now and then.
These are just ideas and finding time to train and teach your kids how to use their public resources takes dedication that can begin with little steps such as going to the grocery store or a fun outing with them using only the public transportation system. By seeing you use it; they are more likely to be accepting of this and even look forward to it if you make it a safe and fun experience.
This is not for everyone but doing this on a regular basis reduces the need for the continuous use of a second car
New sites
I started using the sites you mentioned here this week and loved them! It is amazing how good you feel about saving 5 cents a gallon...
I have thought many times
I have thought many times about ditching the second car, but oh my goodness! I don't think I am that creative in finding ways for all of us to be everywhere we need with only one car!
Wife and I Ditched Second Car
For the last several years of my career, we had only one car and I did not drive it. Since my commute to the office was regular and predictable, it made more sense for my wife to have the car since she had the kids and had to run all the errands. At one home, I rode a bicycle to the train, which took me to the office. In another home I rode a bicycle to the bus station and put my bike on the bus.
I love mass transit because on the congested, stop and go highways, I am so stressed about driving. On a bus or train, there's nothing I can do to get there any faster, so I can relax and read a book.