Eight Ways to Save Gas

At $4.00 per gallon, gasoline is our new child. We have to take care of it, it costs a lot of money and it is annoying most of the time.

Our new child is in infancy as we hear about the prices of gasoline in a year from now said to be close to $7.00 per gallon in May 2009. Here are some sure-fire ways to keep from losing your lunch over this:

Keep A Constant Speed

Speeding is bad for your pocketbook, period. Keep a constant speed and you will use less gas. Breaking too hard or speeding up to pass someone spends gas like crazy.

RPMs

Your car is happy and running most efficiently when your RPM gauge looks like the picture. You want the least amount of RPMs. If you haven't noticed before, the gauge will move as your car accelerates and then reset when it changes gears. Use cruise control on the highway. Set the cruise when your RPM gauge is at its lowest point.

Credit Card or Gas Station Incentives

Some gas stations have credit cards that offer rewards, money back or money off each gallon of gas. BP (formerly Amoco) has a great rebate plan…check it out!

Maintain Your Car

• Get your engine tuned up once a year.
• Check tire pressure once a week
• Get your oil changed without fail every 3 months or 3,000 miles. Whichever comes first.
• Don't use fuel additives. They don't do enough good to make the $8 per bottle worth it.
• Clean out your car and limit number of passengers. Lighter weight means better gas mileage. A lot of us are scared to see what's in our trunks but saving gas mileage should be a great incentive to clean that sucker out.
• Change your air filter often. The oil change guy will show it to you if it needs replacing.

Go To Your Nearest Gas Station

I hear people say that they drove clear across town to save 3 cents per gallon. What!? They spent more money to get there than they saved. Get your gasoline where its convenient for you. Driving everywhere to save a few cents also adds wear and tear to your car. Also, save money by not going inside and buying 3 red bulls and a bag of chips. Make kool aid at home if you need something to drink.

Sitting Idle

Unless you are warming your car in the winter-time, don't sit idle for more than a minute.

You are wasting gas. It is better to turn your car off.

Smokers and Puppies

Smoker and puppies alike, love to have the window cracked a bit. This is a huge gas guzzling move. If you can stand it, get a cute ash tray to sit in your cup holder. Fido will have to chill without the window open. The reason: The open window increases drag on your car making your engine work harder to keep the speed constant and your gas mileage suffers. You are better off running the air conditioning than having the window open as far as gas savings go.

Octane

Dust off the owner's manual that came with your car. While finding the correct tire pressure (invest in a tire gauge, by the way) look for which gas octane the manufacturer wants you to put in the car. 87, 89 or 93. Follow these rules. Putting in higher or lower octane can either hurt your cars performance or do nothing for it at all. As the octane increases, the most it costs per gallon. Don't throw your money away on a higher octane gas.

Until next year, 2009! (I'll see you on the Pace bus =) Cheers!