Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Stop pumping extra money into your gas tank!

It is affecting everybody from truck drivers and taxi companies, to soccer moms and vacationing families; from daily commuters and vacationing families, to police and fire departments...the high price of gas is hitting everyone.

While we can not do a whole lot about the actual price of gas itself, here are some ways to stretch the mileage you get from each gallon, and to find the lowest prices in your community.

First, get your vehicle tuned up...if it runs smoothly, it burns less gas per mile, so you get more bang for your buck. Also, keep your tires properly inflated. If the tires are too low, or two high, they will wear out prematurely (causing you to buy tires more often, which costs you more money). In addition, by not being properly inflated, the vehicle has to overcome more resistance when moving, so it needs more power - which comes from using more gas.

Try to run all your errands at one time...combine things to do, so your only out driving once.

Shop at wholesale dealers. More and more stores like Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco, etc, have gas pumps now, and offer lower prices on their fuel. My wife and I buy our gas at Kroger. By using our Kroger Plus card, we automatically save between $0.03-$0.05 per gallon, depending on what grade of fuel we purchase. But after we have reached $100 in food purchases in a given month at Kroger, we get $0.10 per gallon! At today's prices, that $0.10 adds up fast!

Finally, you can check out GasBuddy.com. It is a website where you can check out the prices of gas of almost anywhere in the United States. Just choose the location you want to check out, and you'll get a list of stations and what their current prices are, all submitted by members of the site. Become a member, and if you find a good deal, post for others to check out as well. This helps you avoid running all over town looking for the lowest price.

All these tips, by themselves won't save you a lot of money, but combine them together, and the savings start to add up significantly, and SAVING MONEY is MAKING MONEY!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great find, thow all stations in my town are the same price. Wish there was a Kroger here.

Steve said...

Dave, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Sorry, I can't help with the Kroger situation (it is nice having one around :D ), but I at least hope that you'll find the other tips and the website helpful. I also hope to continue to earn your continued readership. Thanks again!

Steve