More Miles to the Gallon

“I understand that NASA reported that there's new evidence of water on Mars. I'm here to report that we still don't have any evidence of affordable gasoline in Michigan.”  David Bonior

Week 15

I’m ready to move on to another focus area. It has been several weeks since I have talked about my eight categories that I selected for making small changes in my life, so I’ll just quickly remind you of what they are.

‘RESEARCH’

Relationships

Economics

Spirituality

Environment

Artistry

Recreation

Career and Calling

Health

I've decided to move my small steps to the area of Economics. Who hasn’t had economics on their mind lately? The discussions of our poor economy are ubiquitous. Aren’t we’re all looking at ways to find a few more bucks; whether it’s couponing, shopping at discount stores, or buying products only when they are on sale.  We’re trying to stretch that dollar, be creative with the check book and save the family some money. And about the time we think we will have a little extra left at the end of the week we see prices continue to rise.

And although I’m not from Michigan, as the quote above refers to,   I am in Arizona and the price of gas is going sky high here as well. It’s not just the gas fumes that take my breath away at the pump.  Gas is expensive!  I drive a Hyundai and the owner's manual says that the Hyundai Santa Fe gets an average of 17 MPG  in the city and 24 MPG on the highway ….guess we should have bought a Smartcar.   But as I was reading the manual there was one phrase that kept coming back to me. It said 'MPG’s may vary depending on how vehicle is driven'…hmmmm.  So does that mean that if I drive my car better, I can save gas mileage; thus save money? It sounds like a good small step to put into my experiment. 

The first thing is to measure my current average miles per gallon.  A great feature of my car is that it tells me. With my old car I had to wait until I refilled my gas tank and took the gallons purchased and divided them by the total miles driven  (or is it the other way around?)  Never the less, now I get instant feedback each time I drive.  So, when I go to fill up, I can just reset the measuring instrument and my computer will start refiguring again.

I found that I was driving an average of about 18 miles to the gallon, better than what my manual said since most of my driving is in town and going back and forth to work.  I decided to see if my driving could be a factor in getting more miles to the gallon, thus saving money. 

I will try not to do as much stopping and starting, instead I’ll drive slower as I near a stop light or slower cars.  I'll try not to rev up the engine and race ahead or around a slow vehicle.  I shall attempt to keep my speed as even as possible, and to take routes that have less stopping and starting involved.  I actually tried this out for a few weeks and was quite surprised the next time I filled up my tank.  I was able to get over 22 miles to the gallon. 

Now in the old days saving 4 miles to a gallon may not have been much of a savings…but do the math…4 miles X 16 gallons equals 64 extra miles I was able to drive…and if I’m getting 22 miles to the gallon then that is almost 3 gallons more of gas I was able to use…which would be a savings of about $10.00.  And that’s just for one fill up.  So, I am now going to intentionally and mindfully drive my car with the idea of saving dollars. 

I also shop at Fry’s Grocery store which gives me savings at the gas pump as well. I just started using my Fry's card to save money at the gas pump. The last time I went to buy gas I was able to get a .40 per gallon discount, so I was able to save another 6.00…for a total savings of about $16.00.  If I can multiple that times the amount of times I stop at the gas pump (every two weeks ..26 times)  it comes to over $420.00 per year. (and that's just if I were to drive around town)  Not a bad chunk of change!

I actually really like this goal.  It’s painless for the most part, and it’s intentional.  I would  like to think of some other ideas in my economics category that I could work on.  So, I’m hoping to hear from you and get some more money saving tips that we could all use.

But for now, it’s time to put the brakes on this blog post…see ya next week.

Small steps:  Drive my car so that I average a minimum of 22 mpg.