Okay, I normally write about staging, but I went to fill up my gas tank today…..YIKES!! I filled it up on Monday. I think I paid $3.19 a gallon….today it's $3.49! I will never understand what causes the price to skyrocket, but the bottom line is that it cost me a lot more today. When I first started driving, my Girlfriends and I would each chip in $.25 on a Friday night (total of $1.00 in gas) and that would take us around a whole lot of Bloomington. I know I'm dating myself, but $3.49???
I know I'm not getting a different car right now, so I came home after filling up and went on the internet to find out how to save some gas. I'm skipping staging today and sharing a few ways to save gas from Wikipedia:
There are plenty of ways to save money on gas, but the most effective way is to actually reduce the amount of gas you use. When we find we must use the car to reach our destination, there are tricks that might cut back on gas consumption.
Drive at the speed limit. This is the single most effective solution to increasing efficiency. The most fuel-efficient speed may be the point at which your vehicle shifts to high gear. For most vehicles, this is somewhere around 50mph.
Try to avoid traffic on busy days or times when it is raining, windy or barometric pressure is high. Rain, headwind and high barometric pressure create extra air drag that uses more fuel to create and maintain forward motion (a tailwind helps).
Get rid of any unnecessary weight in your car's truck like golf clubs or unnecessary tools and materials. Lowering the tailgate on a pickup truck actually reduces your gas mileage by reducing drag. Studies have shown that an air cushion is created behind the cab that creates a low drag surface for the air to travel over.
Avoid wasting fuel from pressing the gas to regain the speed lost from braking when following closely (tailgating) which forces you to correct your following distance by applying your brakes, slowing forward motion. Repeated braking simply wastes energy, converting it into unnecessary heat energy and greatly reduces the service life of your brakes. In the future most cars may be equipped with systems in which braking power will be converted into reusable energy, but it is highly unlikely that your car has this technology now unless it is a hybrid.
Every time you punch the gas to quickly accelerate after stopping you are burning extra fuel and increasing tire wear. By accelerating more slowly you are only using the fuel required to get the vehicle to the cruising speed.
Drive smoothly. It increases fuel consumption when you allow the vehicle speed to drift lower and then accelerate back up than it does to maintain a steady position on the accelerator. Allowing the car to lose speed going up hills and gain speed going down increases efficiency.
Change your air filter. A dirty air filter will rob the engine of power and efficiency. It will use more gas than a clean filter.
Keep the tires inflated to the proper pressure to increase your traveling distance on a tank of gas. Keep a tire gauge handy and check the pressure. Tires naturally lose air over a period of time.
Check your tire pressure more often when the outside temperature changes greatly (Hot tires will have high pressure from expanding air — but if air is let out to the proper pressure, then when cooled they will become too low in the cooler conditions so reinflate them when cooler). Under inflated and greatly over sized tires have more rolling resistance and this will reduce your miles per gallon (MPG) and cause tire wear from the excessive friction.
Keep your car tuned-up at manufacturer recommended intervals to optimize your mpg: changing spark plugs and wires on schedule, and the coil(s) when their effectiveness is breaking down (such as shorting internally). The better your engine runs the more power it will produce using less fuel.
Use synthetic oil in your car to save an average of 5% on fuel consumption. As a bonus, fewer oil changes are needed saving your time and reducing trips to the mechanic as well as less used oil in the environment.
Ease off. Listen to relaxing music. When listening to energetic music, your heart rate may increase, making you accelerate harder, speed, and do other things that are not good on your fuel economy.
Avoid excessive idling. If you idle your car for more than a minute, it will save gas to turn off the engine. Also, new cars do not need to be "warmed up" on a cold winter day – a couple of seconds should do the trick.
I'm going to try some of these tips………..hope it helps!
