With gas prices going up, families are trying to find ways to cut back. There are several things that can be done to help save money on gas.
Car Care
The first thing that can be done is to make sure that the family car is being well taken care of. Listed below are some things that need to be considered to make sure that the family car is not guzzling gas:
- Make sure tires are inflated to the correct pressure (look at the vehicle’s manual or on the edge of the car door), and check the tire pressure weekly.
- Drive during less congested times (late morning or evening, after 7PM) to run errands.
- Make sure the car is well maintained (check car manual).
- Drive the speed limit (or even 5 miles under).
- Use the correct octane of gasoline.
- If the vehicle uses ethanol gasoline and can use super unleaded or regular unleaded, alternate between the two.
- Use cruise control when driving on the highway and interstate.
- When waiting for a short period of time (five minutes or longer), turn off the car.
- Do not use abrupt stops (when possible).
- Turn off the air conditioner when it is warm and open the windows.
Other Ways to Save Money
In addition to taking good care of the family car, there are other ways to save money on gas:
- Purchase gas early in the morning or late at night.
- Use gas station coupons.
- Use a gas station credit card to a gas station that the family purchase a majority of the gas from.
- If a grocery store has a gas station, check out gas specials (i.e. some grocery stores will offer a discount per gallon, for example 3 cents off a gallon).
- Condense multiple trips to run errands into one or two a week.
- Carpool as a family instead of using separate vehicles.
- Carpool with other families (take turns going with other families to run errands; this especially works when a parent is a homemaker).
- Contact families in the neighborhood and each family takes turn running errands to stores, etc. (i.e. one week a family gets groceries at the local store or warehouse).
- Use only one vehicle.
- Walk to destination when the weather cooperates.
- Ride bikes (for families with smaller children use a bike carrier or trailer).
- Use the city bus.
Families should not have to worry about the increase cost of gasoline. When they look at ways to save money – by maintaining the family vehicle to walking instead of driving to more destinations – there will be more money left in the family’s budget and fewer worries.
Tracy Criswell - Tracy Criswell is a stay-at-home mother of four, ages two to nine. Prior to becoming a stay-at-home mother over a year ago, she was a ...
