Well, it looks like inflation will stay high for a while longer. The U.S. inflation rate hit another new high this year – 8.6%. Many economists expected inflation to go down, but they were wrong. As a consumer, this isn’t surprising at all. Food, gas, housing, utilities, hotel rooms, and flight tickets are all noticeably more expensive than last year. We’re going on a summer vacation soon and I spent a ton of money to book everything. It was painful. I don’t like spending money, but we need to go see families and friends. It has been too long.
This is why the economists got it wrong. Consumers say they hate inflation and they plan to be more frugal. However, we are all spending our savings like there is no tomorrow. Can you blame us? The last two and a half years were rough. The world is finally opening up and we gotta go. Unfortunately, the more consumers spend, the longer inflation will keep increasing.
Anyway, we are heading off on a road trip very soon. The flight tickets were more than twice what I used to pay so I decided to drive instead. A road trip is better anyway. We can stop and see more people. The price of gasoline is high, but driving will still be much cheaper than flying and renting a car. (Have you tried to rent a car? Yikes!) And we’ll have a bit more control. We can drive conservatively and save some money on gas. Here are 4 ways to help get everyone through this oil spike. The national average gas price is over $5…
*Okay, I fibbed a bit. These are not painless. That’s just an eye-catching title to get you here. But once you get used to them, they are pretty easy to do. Read on!
Drive Less
The best thing you can do to save on gas is to drive less. It is that simple. We don’t drive much and usually only fill up once a month. That is very unusual in the United States. We designed our life to be less car-centric than most families. Here are some of the things we do.
- Live in a walkable neighborhood. We spend a lot more time walking than being in a car.
- Take public transportation. Mrs. RB40 takes a bus to and from her office.
- Group errands together. When I have to drive to do errands, I try to group them. For example, I went to get an oil change and took the opportunity to buy some Asian groceries.
- Try carpooling. If you can stand to spend more time with your officemate, this might be a good option.
- Bike more. We can all use more exercise, right?
- Join the micromobility movement. I charged Lime scooters for a few years. It’s a fun way to get around. You can also rent electric bikes or get some other cool micromobility devices like One Wheel.
I realize that driving less can be very difficult for most Americans. However, I bet you can cut back on driving if you put your mind to it.
Drive Efficiently
Now that gasoline is very expensive, it’s time to examine our driving habits and drive more efficiently. Here are some ways to get more miles from a tank of gas.
- Drive slower. The faster you drive, the more gas you will use. This was why the National Maximum Speed Limit was set to 55 mph in 1974.
- Avoid idling. If you’re just waiting, turn the car off instead of idling. Some new cars do this automatically. When we visited Iceland, the rental van had this auto stop/start technology. It turned off the engine automatically when I stopped and put the car in neutral. Then it turned back on when I put it in gear. That was really cool. Every car should have this feature.
- Scan ahead. There are many situations where you can take your foot off the gas. If a light turns red, just cruise to a stop instead of accelerating into it. If the cars ahead are slowing down, then take your foot off the gas and hover above the brake. It’s safer too.
- Accelerate smoothly. In most situations, you don’t need to stomp on the gas pedal. That uses a lot of gas. Accelerating up to speed smoothly and you’ll save at the pump.
- Minimize drag. We have a cargo hauler. It’s very useful when we go camping, but it really screws up the aerodynamics of our car. Take the box and the bars off when you don’t need them.
- Use Cruise Control. Cruise control helps you maintain a constant speed on the highway and it will save gas. Our cruise control really sucks on hills, though. It accelerates like crazy. I drive manually whenever the road isn’t straight and flat.
Maintain Your Vehicle
A car uses more gas when it isn’t maintained regularly. Here are a few things you can do.
- Inflate your tires properly. The U.S. Department of Energy says that you lower your gas mileage by 0.4 percent for every 1 PSI drop. Check the sticker on your driver-side door jam to see the proper PSI.
- Oil change. Take your car in for an oil change on schedule. Old oil will reduce your gas mileage.
- Tune-up. Maintain your car as scheduled in the manual. A bad oxygen sensor, clogged injector, and many other things will cause your car to use more gas.
Be Smart
Lastly, be smart about your transportation needs.
- Avoid bigger vehicles. If you rarely need a big SUV, then just buy a smaller vehicle. SUV sales plunged the last time gas was expensive. However, they became popular again when gas got cheaper. People keep forgetting that gas is a big part of their transportation expenses.
- Go for a Hybrid or electric vehicle. These gas-efficient vehicles are much more established than just 10 years ago. I would strongly consider a hybrid or electric the next time we need a new vehicle.
- Buy the right grade of gasoline. I think everyone knows this, but I’ll put it here just in case. Some people like to put premium gasoline in their cars. They think premium must be better than regular, right? Wrong. Your car is tuned to use a particular octane. If the manual says to use regular, then buying premium won’t make any difference. Only some sports cars need high octane gasoline because their engines have higher compression ratios. For regular car owners, premium is just a waste of money.
Alright, that’s all I got. It’s summer and we are all looking forward to a nice drive. Enjoy!
Bonus
For the youngins and young at heart out there. Heh heh.
If you are a DIY investor, sign up for a free account at Personal Capital to help manage your investments. I log in almost daily to check my accounts and cash flow. It’s a great site for DIY investors.
Image credit – sippakorn yamkasikorn
The post 4 Painless Ways to Save Money on Gas appeared first on Retire by 40.
Source: Retire By 40
Originally posted 2022-06-21 11:45:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter