10 Ways to Save Gas

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With the way that gas prices are going now ($4-$5 a gallon seems to be a common price at the gas pumps) people everywhere are trying to find ways they can cut how much money they are handing to the gasoline companies. As humans, we tend to want to be savvy on how to save all the money that we can. Here’s some extra information to help get you through the millenia of craziness in our gas!

1. Combine all your small trips. Unfortunately, the majority of us (because you never know these days) don’t have access to Floo Powder like Harry Potter, a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) like the Doctor or have the power of teleportation like those in Star Trek. Luckily for the characters we watch and read about, they never have to spend money on gas. For those of us who do (muggles or humans, whichever you prefer), with the way gas prices are skyrocketing, going two or three times a week to the grocery store can cost more than what you are actually buying. Once you think about the gas, that gallon of milk or cup of sugar can become less important.
2. Carpool, mass transit, or ride share. There are a growing amount of places now where you can drop your car off (I.E. train station parking lots) to voyage to your location in tandem. Not all of us have sparkling vampires to take us from point A to point B by running, after all.
3. If you’ve got the kind of lovin’ that can be so smooth (thank you Carlos Santana for beautiful lyrics), then be a smooth driver as well! In other words, drive the speed limit, use a moderate amount of acceleration and coast; don’t tap on the breaks or be a “two-footed driver.” Although they may seem trivial, doing this actually helps cut your gas bill more than you would think. Take the challenge: drive do these small things for a couple weeks, and see how much your gas bill goes down.
4. Cut down the junk in your trunk! All that excess weight in your car weighs it down and in turn costs you more gas since it takes more power to get you to where you need to go. Why lug around all that extra baggage? Clean your trunk out whenever you get the chance. A clean car is a happy car after all!
5. Treat your car as if she or he is your “baby”. The nicer you are to your car (taking it to get tune ups, replacing it’s air filters when needed, changing oil as directed, using the proper tire pressure, have your alignment checked, etc.), the kinder your car will treat you! Just with a clean air filter, your gas can improve by 10%. Think about all the money you can save by doing all the aforementioned!


6. Be a genius using the air conditioning in your car versus having your windows rolled down. Opening your windows at low speeds and using your air conditioning at higher speeds can help your fuel economy. Keeping your windows closed when you are traveling at a speedy pace keeps your car aerodynamic.
7. Reduce your time sitting idle in the car. Is there ever really a reason to just be sitting with your car on for ten minutes while you are waiting on someone? It may seem like a pain at first, but just turn your car off during the duration of your sitting time. You can still listen to music with your car no idling! If anything, bring out the fancy smart phone of yours and entertain yourself with some games while waiting. That’s what they are for after all!
   
8. Make sure that you are following the octane level in the owner’s manual for your car. Just because gas stations sell gasoline at premium levels does not actually mean that grade of gas will do anything for you. If it shows in your owner’s manual that you only need the cheapest level of gas, there is no point to buy the more expensive one. It’s time to listen to what your parents always told you–be frugal with your money!
9. Overdrive gears and use cruise control. When using over driving gearing, your car’s engine speed goes down which, in turn, saves gas mileage and reduces engine wear (a two for one special!).
10. Tighten the gas cap and don’t “top off” like you would a soda pop. Remember science class in the seventh and eighth grade when you learned about solids, liquids an gasses? Well, if you remember, gas evaporates. That does not exclude the gas you put in your car. If you don’t tighten up the loose ends on that gas cap, your gas could disappear like the money you just used to pay for that gas.