Ways to save on gas ? - Page 2

SahmIam · ‎04-16-2010

What I do:

*Drive less (seems obvious, but I ask myself do I NEED to make the trip).

*Bundle all errands into one trip and then hit each place going from farthest to closest so there is NO doubling back.

* Use my gas reward card: this saves me anywhere from .75 a gallon up to $1.75 a gallon OFF the price at the pump. If I don't have and need gas (shame on me for that), I know where to go to get the cheapest gas in town and I plan that in my errand run.

* Cut down on how many cars you use. DH drives to work but his car gets 45 miles plus to the gallon and his commute is a whopping 15 minutes (25 on a bad day). My son (18) and I share his car. I base my needs around when he is not at work or school. It's working so far and has cut out the cost of using 2 cars. Obviously when he moves to his own place, I'll need to purchase a car but until then....money saved on gas.

RedTop · ‎09-01-2010

I stick to the same routine I started years ago when gas jumped sky high.

I was working then, and ALL errands and appointments were done on the days I worked. I came home after my last shift and didn’t go anywhere until time to go to work again. This is when I started shopping smarter, stocking more food and supplies in the house, as there were NO quick runs out for a forgotten ingredient. I rarely bought gas more than once a month.

Now that I'm retired, I go less than ever. My vehicle is 5 years old with 21,700 miles on it, and I buy gas about every 6-8 weeks, depending on whether we've made a trip to the VA. During the winter, I buy groceries every 2 months. During summer months, I go to the grocery store monthly. My husbands vehicle is 4 years old with 10,500 miles on it.

Evie2004 · ‎09-09-2010

We bought a Subaru Crosstrek last summer & it literally sips gas! We drove 200+ miles last weekend & had 1/2 tankful left when we got home..the trip included city driving.

We use our Kroger Plus card for discounts..rarely pay over $2 per gallon.

CelticCrafter · ‎03-09-2010

@Mominohio wrote:
Probably the best way is to drive less.

Plan trips, and get things done in some kind of order as you run errands and go to appointments. For us, if we are going the 20 miles into town, it pays to make a circle around town for all errands and appointments in one trip, rather than say, getting groceries on Tuesday, then run up on Friday to do the banking, then make a dentist appointment the following Monday. Consolidate the things you need to do, and drive fewer times/miles per week.

Maintain your car to maximize gas mileage (there is a lot of info online for what to do for this), and when choosing a new car, pay attention to mileage and make it a focus of your choice, rather than some other bells and whistles being more important.

That's how we do it.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

We are very fortunate to live in a small town where everything is close by. The grocery store is 1/2 mile away, in the same strip mall as the grocery is our bank, dry cleaner/laundromat, Bells dept store, dollar store, hallmark store,office supply store, eye doctor. Within 2 miles from our house are DH's barber, our church, my hair stylist, our favorite diner, post office, hardware store, YMCA where we swim, hospital which is also where we get labs drawn and x rays etc done. Our doctor's office is about 4 miles away. So most of the time our driving is limited to a few miles a day.

bonnielu · ‎03-11-2010

We have a Prius, 50 miles per gallon. We buy our gas at Costco or use credit from Giant Eagle purchases. If we drive South to see our daughter prices in her area are much lower.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@bonnielu wrote:
We have a Prius, 50 miles per gallon. We buy our gas at Costco or use credit from Giant Eagle purchases. If we drive South to see our daughter prices in her area are much lower.

But don't you have to also charge the electric batteries - electric isn't free and the cost of the car in the first place is higher. As you can tell - I'm just not completely convinced yet that electric cars are an economic advantage.I'm waiting for one with solar batteries - just sit it out in the sun to charge it up.

jannabelle1 · ‎09-12-2010

I live in Missouri and our gas prices are around $2.75+/gallon. It looks like those of you who live on both coasts are paying the most. I'm retired, but even if I was working, the average commute in my major city would be around 30 minutes - add maybe 15 or 20 minutes for rush hour. I can't imagine gas prices and commute times elsewhere. Life is pretty good in my part of the Midwest, so I can't complain. Edited to the question: since we're retired, we combine trips for shopping with doctor/dentist appointments. We don't eat out more than once or twice every couple of weeks. - we're pretty content at home. We live in a metropolitan area, but we keep our travels close to home. Gas prices go up and then they come down, so I don't worry about them where I live.

Mj12 · ‎03-09-2010

I used to try to always fill up my tank on the Army post here. It seemed to be a lot cheaper than on the economy (on the local economy). But it's not any longer, not for my area. Not worth the trip to post to fill up.

We use the GIant rewards cards too, and my husband uses the points to partially fill up his F-150. But Giant (our Giant chain at least) put a cap on the gas points, only good for so many gallons, and they don't roll over. My husband likes to fill up at Costco.

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

Our gas was between $2.55 and $2.65 in my area. This morning as I came to work, I noticed the 4 stations I drive by are now at $2.85.

I shop primarily at Giant Eagle because it's the grocery store closest to me. I have the rewards card so we get the fuel perks.

They limit us to 30 gallons max so we never use it just to fill up our cars because our cars only have around a 13 gallon tank so we'd be losing 17 gallons at the discount price. They won't roll the gallons over.

We make sure we fill up DH's truck which has a 30 gallon tank or we put it in our boat, which has a 100 gallon tank. That way we get what we can at the discount.