Geeks on a Budget: Saving Money on Gas
Cars. We drive them. They get us from point A to point B. We drive them to work, to the movies, to the mall and everywhere in between. Every gallon of gas (or “litre of petrol” for our non-American friends) you put into your vehicle is a new adventure waiting to happen.
It’s also an evil succubus that consumes the soul of your wallet — your cash.
MythBusters has proved time and again that random weird things that places sell to put into your gas tank don’t really work — so how do you save some green on gas (or, pounds on petrol) so that you can have a few extra bucks in your pocket?
Stop Driving Like You’re A Hollywood Stunt Double
Whether you drive a Hyundai Santa Fe or a Ford Mustang, chances are you are not a professional race car driver, nor are you about to be Tokyo Drifting down the highway. So, lighten up, lead foot! Proper acceleration and braking can help to save on gas consumption. Instead of stomping on the accelerator when the light turns green, slowly apply pressure and build up speed. When driving, keep a safe distance from cars in front of you, and when you need to brake, remove your foot from the accelerator and — again– slowly press on the brake to come to a stop. A lot of times, in traffic where you don’t need to stop, if the cars in front of you are slowing down, you don’t need to press your brakes — just take your foot off the gas. Doing this can easily give you better gas mileage, a 10-20% improvement.
If you drive an automatic and you’re going at a pretty steady pace, use the cruise control to keep yourself from speeding up and slowing down unnecessarily.
Drive Less
A very obvious way to save gas is to drive less. If you live near coworkers, try carpooling a few days a week. Commute to work using the bus just once a week to go green while saving green. If you’re going somewhere that’s a mile or less away from where you are, walk. And if you have a lot of different errands to do, do them all at once — and map out a fuel-efficient route; that is, don’t go 3 miles away from your house, then 10 miles away, then 5 miles away, then 15 miles away, etc.
Search For The Best Gas Prices
Go to GasBuddy.com (or download their smartphone app) and enter your zip code to find the lowest gas prices in your area. Sometimes the cheapest gas prices aren’t always right near your house — but that’s when you can figure getting gas into the route you use for doing your errands. A particular gas station might seem out of your way, but if you need to go to the grocery store and the shoe store, and there’s a cheaper gas station between those two places than on your work route, you can easily save pennies on the gallon while not going completely out of your way.
I’m not sure how popular this is elsewhere, but something that has cropped up lately in Las Vegas is gas prices for cash versus debit. A lot of places will offer cheaper prices if you pay with cash instead of a credit or debit card. For instance the Rebel gas station near my house recently had $3.28/gallon for cash and $3.34/gallon for credit/debit. You might be thinking, “That’s only a six cent difference!” but keep in mind that if you have a 15 gallon tank that you have to fill up once a week, that’s a savings of 90 cents a week — or $46.80 a year. We’re not talking hundreds of thousands of dollars here, but when you’re a geek on a budget, every penny counts!
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