Ways You Save Money On Gas?

With gas prices fluctuating as they do - being fuel conscious at all times is a smart move - especially as not only does it pay off in the long term - but doesn't require making any sacrifices either

As apart from the most important and biggest cost saver - of keeping a vehicle properly maintained and particularly in terms of air filters, tires and engine oil - as running a vehicle with an improperly tuned engine, dirty air filters, under-inflated tires or the wrong engine oil - can increase fuel consumption by a considerably large amount - little things like

Not making unnecessary trips
as well as - if possible - avoiding peak traffic times - particularly as sitting in traffic with the engine idling is a real fuel guzzler,
Only using the AC when absolutely necessary - as keeping windows closed and using the air vents instead of the AC - very definitely contributes towards greater fuel economy.
Never carrying around any unnecessary excess weight

and of course - not being too heavy on the gas and brake peddles - meaning not driving overly fast or aggressively - all contribute greatly towards fuel conservation and very noticeable savings on gas.

 

I save money on gas buy completing several errands in close proximity on one trip. Keeping my tank half full makes it a lot easier to get a full tank for less money and helps if I need to drive longer distances. Scouting for the cheapest gas sold and making use of my Kroger points when gas is at its highest in the area instead of when it's not.

 

I live about 12-15 miles away from town, so I do my best to plan my errands so that I can get everything done in one trip. But, I am also a member at two different convenience stores that give me discounts on my gas. One gives me $.03 of a gallon when I use my membership card and the other gives me $.05 of a gallon when I use the card. Every penny saved counts in our household.

 

A good way of saving on gas is by planning the tasks that have to be done so that at one outing so as to minimise the miles that would be travelled. Servicing the vehicle in good time also allows it to be more fuel efficient, therefore, the level of gas consumption would be reduced. However, I wouldn't go as far as curtailing recreational activities to save on fuel cost.

 

When I go to the market on weekends, my husband drives for me and my escort are our 2 dogs. The car is parked in the gas station near the market and while I am buying food, the car is running to avail of the air conditioning since my husband and the dogs are in the car. But when the cost of gasoline was continually increasing, we agreed not to bring the dogs for the meantime while waiting for the gas prices to stabilize or for the rains to come - no need to run the car's air conditioner when it is raining.

 

My best strategy is to plan ahead. If I know in advance which trips to make on the same day such as ones that will be close together I feel like I get to save a lot by not having to resort to driving around aimlessly. Also this way I can properly budget my gas expenses in that I know how much I'll have used up by the end of the day. Unless certain trips that are out of the way are unavoidable I tend to just plan whichever places I can go to and I make sure I remember all of them do I don't end up having to go back in a few days just because I forgot something.

 

Our one grocery store (Giant Eagle) offers something they call "Fuel Perk" that are helpful. For every so many dollars you spend, you get .10 cents off a gallon. However, they also offer other promotions. Like certain items in their circular every week will be worth more Fuel Perks. Around Christmas, they offer a tremendous deal where they offer extra Fuel Perks when you buy gift cards at their store. We buy a lot of gift cards as gifts for family members, but if we know that we are going to go buy something from somewhere ourselves, we even buy the gift card from there first to earn the Perks. It works out great. There's been times I have seen other customers get their gas purchase completely FREE (they allow up to 30 gallons). As for me, I have gotten up to a dollar off a gallon which is pretty good.

Another thing I do to save on gas is to redeem points from survey sites that I participate in for gas cards. This is really helpful, too. I also look on ebay and craigslist for people that sell their gas gift cards for less than what they are worth because they need actual cash.

 

Saving money on gas is not always wise, so you have to be careful where you go to get gas. There are many no name gas stations that might not have pure fuel for your car. A good way to do it is with apps that show gas prices in different gas stations.

 

I try to plan things out as well. I tackle as many things in one area as I can handle, on each trip.

When we go into the city, there are several gas stations all within a short distance of one another, yet the prices vary by quite a bit. When we're heading in, we take a glance at the various stations and get gas at the one that is the cheapest. I'm always surprised to see the highest priced place with a full lot. I don't know if people fail to pay attention or they just like the place because it's the newest one around or something.

There are also websites and apps like

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that make it simple to find the cheapest gas prices near you.

I like your idea, @Lisa Davis, about buying discounted gas cards. I want to do that with lots of different types of gift cards. It seems like a great way to save money on a number of different things.

 

I am a big advocate of getting discounts from the gas station's card. Most of the gas stations now have a card that will give you 3 cents off. That isn't a ton, but can easily save you 50 cents on each transaction. That adds up over the year. Most cards allow you to build up for more money off of gas. I once had so much money off gas that I only payed a few cents per gallon.

 

I try to combine trips as much as possible. I never go to town without doing more than one errand at a time. I always make sure I make multiple stops if I am going to take the trip. It just makes good sense. It is one of the ways that you can get the type of bang for the buck for you need out of a tank of gas. Little things add up to saving money.

 

I only go somewhere when it is absolutely necessary and try to do more than one thing in. I also use my grocery store's fuel program to get a discount on gas. I have noticed now that it is summer prices are staying a little high but not as much as last year. Luckily, every place I need to go is relatively close to where I live and do not have to waste gas driving far away.

 

The best way to save some money on gas is to use the public transportation daily: I take the bus almost everyday and it saves me a lot of money every year.
If you really need to drive somewhere, you should try sharing your car with your friends. If you are going to the movies or to have dinner in a fancy place, instead of going there with two separate cars you can give a ride to your friend and make him pay for half the gas. I do this very often with my friends since they are more than happy to not drive.
When I was in high school my neighbour was attending my same school, so he drove me there everyday splitting the gas money. I would really love to do the same with one of my coworkers.

 

Another way to save gas involves the use fuel injector cleaner. It costs around 5 dollars for one treatment. However, you might be able to substitute premium gas for the treatment. Nonetheless, oddly enough, an employee at an auto supply store advised adding the treatment to a full tank of premium gas.

 

With the horrendous traffic in Metro Manila, our only way to save on gas is to leave home VERY early. For the 8am start of work in the office, we leave home by 5am to avail of the road with not much traffic. It takes us 1 hour of travel so we are in the office by 6am. But if we leave home by 6am, we reach the office after 8am. You can imagine the wasted gas.

 

That is a lot of wasted time spent on transportation. However, I do know that Manila has a subway and two railways. What percentage of the people ride it?

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That is a very good question. When the first train system was being built, it was supposed to replace the buses and jeepneys. But it did not happen. When the second train system was being built, it went the same way as the first. Now, those 2 train systems called LRT (Light Rail Transit) and MRT (Metro Rail Transit) are not that utile when it comes to public service because the trains simply couldn't accommodate the passengers. The queue to the platform is kilometric and it takes 30 minutes before a passenger can get a ride. The buses which were supposed to be phased out even multiplied in numbers which created more traffic. By the way, we have no subway in Metro Manila, the 2 trains are overhead train systems.