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Topics: General Car Tips |
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| Save Gas By Driving Fewer Miles |
Submitted by:
anonymous 06/04/2009 1:05 PM
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We live in a rural area. It a seven-mile round trip to the post office, convenience store and late-bus drop-off point. It's a fifteen-mile round trip to the regional high school. It's twenty-mile round trip in a completely different direction where we have a gym membership. It's a thirty-mile trip to the major shopping area near us (which we call "the city").
So tips like keeping tires inflated, and driving slower pale by comparison to the savings we get by creatively minimizing miles driven. Some of the things we do are obvious, others are less obvious:
THE OBVIOUS
1. Whenever possible we combine trips, and always try to avoid trips for doing just one thing at a time.
2. We keep our home stocked with food, especially staples like powdered milk and canned fruit, so that we can always get around some unexpected shortage. If a kid informs me that they need to bring a dessert to a class party "tomorrow," I just work with the best I have.
3. Whenever possible we car pool, such as coordinating with parents for pick ups and drop offs.
4. I walk or use my bike for shorter trips when I am not hauling kids or heavy items.
THE LESS OBVIOUS
1. Per week, my gym membership costs less than the gas commuting there. I had been going three times a week to get the most out of the membership, until I realized it was cheaper overall to drive there twice a week. I exercise at home the other days. Though I had considered canceling my membership altogether, the social connection and quality of workout is worthwhile to me.
2. A major expenditure for gas is in shuttling kids to friends' homes and various outside activities. If a kid wants to go to a friend's house, it might be a twenty-mile round trip, that I have to do twice for pick up and drop off. So we limit kids to one get together with friends every two weeks. If they want more than that, they have to give us gas money, or do some extra household chores. With outside actvities such as Scouts or sports, we limit them to one thing at a time. Without these limits I would be spending my life on the road, and shortchanging the remainder of the kids at home.
3. When I have a lag time of only a couple hours or less between drop off and pick up, instead of driving back home, I try to use that time creatively. I might do other errands, or park my car and get in my walking exercise, or read. During one night-time drop off to the city, where I needed to pick up the kid in two hours, I brought along my laptop and Netflix, and watched in the parking lot.
4. We stockpile generic birthday gifts, so when my kid gets an unexpected invitation, we don't have to make a trip to the city to buy a gift. Generic gifts might be a large set of colored markers, or girlie make-up stuff. If I don't have a suitable gift, we might combine some cash with homemade presents. (If you're good at making something kids like, stockpile those items.)
5. We go to the geographically closest dentist and medical clinic (fees are about the same). With a large family, these appointments add up to a lot of trips. This dentist is about three miles from my home, and I have walked there and back to get my daily hiking time in. When possible, we schedule kids appointments after school hours so we don't have to do a school pick up or drop off.
6. We use local maps to find the shortest distance places. But also I always travel with detailed local maps, so that I take a wrong turn, I can find a way to my destination that doesn't involve backtracking.
7. I try to combine trips with save-money activities. For example, if I go to a wedding, I figure out where all the thrift-junk-pawn shops are and try to hit them. I leave early so that if I encounter yard sales on the way, I have the time to stop.
8. There are two major routes to the city, and the driving distance is almost exactly the same. I drive in one route and home on the other, in case there are yard sales. I go the way that allows me to make right-hand turns into the two major thrift shops.
9. We do online shopping, and buy online when the combined sale price and shipping is less than driving to buy something.
10. I rarely drive purely for entertainment or socializing... unless it is save-money socializing or entertainment (such as yardsaling with a friend). I find adequate entertainment at home, and I more frequently socialize with the telephone and email.
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