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This is a guest post from Bobbi of Bobbis Bargains.
Unless you live in New York City and use only mass transit, the fastest growing expense you may have is your weekly gasoline bill. I used to pay for my gas out of my pocket money. Now, I couldn’t possibly pay for a tank of gas with all the cash in my wallet. Fuel is a major expense that must be a part of any successful budget.
Knowing this, how can you best stretch your gasoline dollars?
There are lots of articles, videos, and websites that are geared to tell you how to get the most of every ounce of gasoline you put in the tank. These experts tell you to:
- remove extra weight from your car
- avoid unnecessary idling
- eliminate roof racks
- properly inflate your tires
If you like to live a very dangerous lifestyle, you can learn the fine art of hypermiling. Hypermiling is defined as the act of driving using techniques that maximize fuel economy. Extreme hypermiling enthusiasts say they can get very high MPG by employing techniques such as turning off the engine while coasting down slopes, taking routes that avoid stop lights and drafting close behind a big rig to remove wind resistance.
It is possible that all of the above will work. You’d have to check them out for yourself. Some of them are too scary for me to even contemplate.
I don’t know enough about the mechanics of how a car works to say what will help your gas mileage. However, what I DO know is that you WILL definitely drive less miles and therefore USE less gas if you do the following simple steps.
1. Always plan your next day before you go to sleep. Take a few minutes of quiet time before you turn in for the night to go over what needs to be done tomorrow. Map out your stops so that you have to travel the least amount of miles. Decide if an errand can wait until you have another errand in the same vicinity.
2. Make sure you keep a constant shopping list in your purse, pocket or cell phone. This way, if you find yourself in a store, you can pick up everything you need at one time. This will also help avoid impulse buying of items that are NOT on your list.
With just a bit of self-discipline you can spend less time in your car and more time doing the activities you really love.
