With the gas prices well above the normal range lately, and continuing to rise, I thought I’d give out some great tips on saving and preserving gas.
I’ve collected these from all over and have used most of these myself. For awhile I was driving up to 56 miles a day just for work. That did not include errands, children’s appointments, stores, friends houses, etc. It’s costly right now because of gas prices, but there are definitely a few ways to help save.
Consider using the fuel centers at grocery stores and wholesale clubs. Their gas prices are usually lower than the market average. Our local Super Walmart has gas pumps and their gas prices are typically .02-.03 less per gallon.
In addition to using their pumps, here is another idea to use at these places.
Save money using store discount card. At our Walmart store, you can save 3 cents a gallon by purchasing your gas with their gift cards. It’s strange, but it’s true!
We have a local gas station that runs a constant promotion. They are the same price as EVERY other gas station in the area – HOWEVER, if you pay by cash – it’s .05 cheaper PER gallon! Look for discount gas stations. They often are the one’s that sell cheap beer and wine too. LOL (I don’t buy these, but this is typical of these types of stores).
If you have a gas credit card, then use it. You can research the best cards on www.cardweb.com. There are station-specific rebate cards, general rebate cards and grocery store rebate cards that give rebates ranging from 2 percent to 10 percent on gas.
Shop Around online. You can shop your area gas prices easily at www.gaspricewatch.com or www.gasbuddy.com. Gas prices vary by area based on competition, but it doesn’t make sense to drive around to find the lowest price.
I did this and found a gas station fairly close to me, that I pass quite often, and it was .04 cheaper than right around my house. Filling up saved me only .84 but if I did that every week for a month, I would save $3.36 which is pretty darn close to getting a gallon and a half of gas!
Plus, think of other ways you can spend that $3.36 – at our house, we drop all of our savings from coupons, rebates and savings into one of those big empty water bottles. We use the money for various things – last year we took a camping trip with some of it! If we keep saving we might actually be able to take a whole vacation. Now, think about this – I was talking about saving all sorts of change from various places, but just to save $3.36 a month for a year, comes out to $43.68 – a FULL tank of gas! Or many other things can be bought with that $40!
Please read more on saving gas, with Saving Gas With Prices On the Rise part two.