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Gas is expensive. The oil commodity has been flirting between $90-$100 a barrel, while consumers are hit with $3.50 a gallon for regular unleaded here in Southern California. Here are some tips on saving money on gas.
- Inflate your tires to the appropriate levels. You will get better gas mileage when your tires are inflated to the manufacturer’s standards. I recently heard someone from the AAA say that the amount of oil that Americans would save by having properly inflated tires is equal to the amount of oil believed to be in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- Plan your trips. If you have to run various errands throughout the day, think through at the beginning of the day how you can combine all those trips.
- Alternative commuting. Either walk, get a bike or take public transportation to work. You may be thinking that you don’t have money to buy a bike, but the amount of money you’ll save on gas by using a bike to commute to work (assuming you live within riding distance) may be offset by the cost of the bike.
- Easy on the AC. I am guilty of running the AC all the time. The less we use the AC in the car the more money we save on gas.
- Don’t worry about warming up your car. Most newer models do not need more than a minute to warm up. Leave the car to idle in your garage and see your money evaporate away.
- You probably don’t need high octane. I don’t own a luxury car, which are usually the culprits that require high octane gasoline. For most of us, regular is fine.
- Drive slower. Most people do not want to drive slower, but you save more gas by driving slower. For example, you save about 20% more gas by driving 50 mph rather than 70 mph.
- Invite people to your pad. OK, so this just shifts on who pays for the gas, but this post is about how to help YOU not your friends save money on gas.
- Take a drive sabbath. What if one day a week, you decided that you would not use your car for any purpose? This means you have to do everything that requires a vehicle in six days.
Feel free to add some of your ideas on how to save money on gas.
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I was doing some research on this myself, and interestingly enough, around 35/40mph and faster, the drag that’s created from opening your windows nullifies the difference in the amount of fuel you’d save from just using the A/C. The most recommended is to use the fan.
A couple other tips:
1) Check your air filter/spend a little more money on a more efficient air filter - it will more than pay for itself in fuel savings.
2) When driving on the freeway, leave a bigger gap between you and the car in front - it’ll save you from braking and accelerating as much.
3) When taking off from a stop, accelerate slowly - it takes way less gas.
4) Stay away from parking at storefronts - it may be a little more of a walk, but you end up saving gas not having to wait for other cars and pedestrians.
5) Avoid having to stop - when approaching red lights or on freeway off-ramps, coast to a stop. At a red light, starting from 5-10mph is much more fuel efficient than starting from a full stop.
Hope that’s helpful!
About the AC vs. open windows thing, I’d read something similar to Jessica’s research, that open windows doesn’t save you more gas because of the increased drag created by the open windows.
I like the drive sabbath idea. I might have to give it a try.
Amy and I are mulling downsizing to one car, at least in part in order to save $ and energy. It will push our ability to schedule and plan the day, but we think it’s doable!