Common Cents: Frugal Fueling! (September 2, 2008)

Hello, and welcome to Common Cents, where we discuss topics relevant to those living below the poverty line and other topics that are of importance to those living paycheck to paycheck!

With gas prices still over $3 a gallon, more people are being tempted to forget the first and most important rule of frugal shopping -- shopping around. The allure of one-stop shopping is powerful enough to convince people to overlook high markup prices on everything from groceries to electronics, regardless of whether they spend $50 more trying to save $10 on gas. Therefore, Common Cents will be focusing its next few columns on methods of shopping around without breaking your budget. In this Shop Around special, we'll be focusing on one of the most fundamental choices - one that is difficult to avoid. This week, we'll be looking at Frugal Fueling.

Depending on your personal situation, gasoline might be a frivolity or a necessity. Those living in places where public transportation doesn't easily reach, working in places far from home, are likely to find that gasoline is a pervasive expense. Unless your car is electric, chances are you have to fill the gas tank at least once in a while. So what can you do to lower your pain at the pump?

The most obvious way to keep money in your wallet is to reduce your gas consumption. One extreme method of doing this is to upgrade to a more fuel-efficient car, such as a hybrid; however, spending an extra $10,000 (plus interest) is only better for your wallet if it provides greater savings over the lifetime of the car (as in, will this car save you $10,000 or more over its lifetime?) That said, here are some other suggestions, divided into Good Ideas and Bad Ideas.

Bad Idea: Don't stop at stop signs. Technically, this does save you fuel, as you won't have to use fuel to get back up to speed - but honestly, this is a bad idea. It's illegal, and if you get caught, the cost of tickets and insurance premiums will greatly outweigh the potential savings.

Good Idea: Shorten your commute. The average vehicle gets about 21 miles to the gallon, and the average worker has a round-trip commute of over 20 miles each day. In short, you're probably using up a gallon of gas (or more) every day, just to get to work and back again. You're probably used to making lots of trips like this - to the store, to the mall, to the post office - and all of these trips add up quickly.

You probably can't do much to avoid a long commute to work with the job market as tight as it is, but you can plot out your routes to other locations in advance. If you're already considering purchasing a GPS, this might be extra motivation to pick one up; even if you don't have a GPS, visiting MapQuest, Google Maps, Yahoo! Local Maps, or your online mapper of choice can help you plan out your trips. Combining several trips into one and planning out your trips can give you less time spent on the road and more fuel kept in your tank.

Bad Idea: Draft behind larger vehicles. This was tested by MythBusters, and it does seem to work -- the idea is, basically, that the closer you drive behind a large vehicle, the better your fuel economy will be, as the larger vehicle will create a low-pressure area behind it that decreases the effective aerodynamic drag of the vehicle. The results of the test were up to 39% improvement in fuel efficiency -- but required taking incredible risks that no sane driver should ever consider.

Good Idea: Avoid idling. Idling simply uses up gas without getting you anywhere. Hybrids avoid this problem by running primarily on battery power when the vehicle is traveling below a certain speed, but most cars lose gasoline every second they're running, whether you're going anywhere or not. Aside from being bad for the environment, ten minutes of idling is roughly equivalent to driving five miles as far as fuel consumption is concerned.

You can easily avoid idling by simply turning your car off in situations where you don't really need to go anywhere for more than ten seconds at a time. Skip the drivethrough and go in; shut the car off instead of leaving it idling when you make a quick trip to and from your car; shut the car off when waiting in the parking lot; don't idle your car while you're trying to warm it up, cool it down, scrape ice off the windshield, or whathaveyou unless it's REALLY necessary; and get settled (put on your seatbelt, adjust your mirrors and seat, set your CD or radio station, etc) before starting up your car. You can even turn off your car at long stop lights (the ones you know are going to be long, that is). All of these can help you avoid idling your motor and using up your gas to go nowhere.

The best way to avoid idling, though, is to avoid being in the middle of heavy traffic in the first place. If rush hour (or school-bus!) traffic is bad along your route, try changing your departure time -- head in to work a little earlier, or head home a little later, and it can save you a lot of idling in traffic, stress, and fuel consumption.

Bad Idea: Leave the tailgate on your pickup truck down. This was also tested by Mythbusters -- and proven false, in two separate episodes (episode 43 and a revisit in episode 64.) While people think that it will improve gas mileage by reducing drag, in reality the opposite is true -- the raised tailgate makes a low-pressure bubble within the truck bed that actually improves the truck's aerodynamics (and therefore performance.)

Good Idea: Know your gas prices. The biggest tip you'll get regarding gas prices is that you can 'shop around' online to find which gas stations are offering the lowest price at the pump. Sites like FuelEconomy.gov, GasBuddy.com, and GasPriceWatch give us easy access to the lowest prices for gas within our area. Knowing gas prices (and planning your errands appropriately) in advance can save you a lot of money. A few minutes' drive can make a difference of a quarter or more per gallon; many stations charge more simply because they're positioned conveniently off the turnpike or outside of a suburb exit, while five minutes down the road (in the direction you're traveling, no less) is a station that charges five to twenty cents less per gallon.

Even without spending a lot of time studying websites, you can often get a feeling for gas prices if you pay attention while driving. For example, locally, some of our gas stations offer gas at $3.299 per gallon... if you pay cash. Otherwise, they charge $3.389 per gallon. Meanwhile, the WaWa stations elsewhere on my route charge $3.319 per gallon. Since I rarely carry cash, I usually fill up at the WaWa unless I have cash handy and don't have to detour to stop for gas (the twenty cents or less I'd save from not going to WaWa would be worth less than 1/16th of a gallon, so going out of my way isn't worth it), or unless I'd have to detour significantly to reach a WaWa (ten miles if I'm planning on filling the tank; five miles or so if I'm only planning on putting $30 worth.) This leads me to my next point...

Bad Idea: Driving long distances to buy gas. Even bearing the above in mind, going out of your way too far to get gasoline is just as bad as any other situation where you drive twenty miles to save one dollar - you're doing it wrong. If it's going to cost you more to get there (and back) than you're saving, you shouldn't do it.

Good Idea: Don't drive aggressively. Speeding, rapid acceleration, and rapid deceleration can lower gas mileage dramatically (from 5 to 33%), and if you're stressed, you may not even realize you're doing it. If you have cruise control, take advantage of it. Take it easy and don't stress about the roads, and you'll find you're spending less time getting stressed at the pump!

Bad Idea: Accelerate extremely slowly. While accelerating as quickly as possible can increase fuel consumption, accelerating extremely slowly can actually make your engine run less efficiently, and therefore also increase fuel consumption. Just relax!

Good Idea: Lose some weight. Every extra 100 pounds of weight in your car can lower your miles per gallon by up to two percent. If you're worried about fuel economy, you should check your car and see what really needs to be in there. Clean out your trunk or truck bed, remove your roof rack, and bring in all of those things you're 'going to get out of the car sooner or later'. If your vehicle has removable seats, you might consider removing them when you aren't using them. If it's the middle of summer, you can probably leave the rock salt and bags of sand behind. If you're not taking the kids with you, the child seats can probably remain behind. If your car is covered in snow and ice, clear it off before you start driving - a couple of inches of snow on your car can add weight and drag (as well as making it less safe to drive). Finally, if you're considering going on a diet, bear in mind that losing weight will actually improve your gas mileage (remember, you're in the car too!).

It's a small difference - but if you're looking to save money, every little bit will help. Just don't go overboard - you need that spare tire, after all. Removing 100 pounds of weight from your car could save you $1.50 in gas every time you fill up. Doesn't sound like much, but if you fill up once per week, that's an extra $75 a year. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Bad Idea: Don't fill up your tank all the way. It's true that putting less gas in your car reduces the overall weight of the car, so after the previous tip you might be thinking of this as a cost-saving measure. Those who are paranoid about the rise and fall of gas prices might even think of this as an investment option -- filling all the way only when gas prices are dropping. However, less gas in your tank means more trips to the gas station (and thus more gas used on these trips), so if you can afford it, fill up your tank and save yourself a trip later.

Good Idea: Take care of your car. Proper vehicle maintenance might not sound glamorous, but it is one of the most important things you can do to improve your mileage. If your car is out of tune (or is failing its emissions tests), a proper tune-up can improve gas mileage by an average of 4 percent. (In fact, fixing certain serious problems can improve performance by up to 40 percent!) Replacing your air filters can improve performance by up to 10 percent. Properly inflating your tires can improve gas mileage by an average of 3.3 percent. Even a simple thing like using the recommended grade of motor oil can improve mileage by up to 2 percent.

Bad Idea: Overinflating your tires. There is a slight increase in fuel economy if you overinflate your tires - less tire surface on the road means less energy to get the car moving. However, this is also likely to wear out your tires more quickly, a decrease in your vehicle's traction, and a higher likelihood of losing control of your vehicle. It's just not worth risking your life over.

Good -and- Bad Idea: Driving with the windows down to avoid using the air conditioner. Although the air conditioner can reduce your gas mileage when on, the aerodynamic drag generated by having your windows open can offset this gain. Yes, Mythbusters tested this one in two separate episodes ('episode 22' (http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2004/11/mythbusters_boom_lift_catapult.html) and 'episode 38' (http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2005/10/episode_38_mythbusters_reviste.html)), and it turns out that when traveling under about fifty miles an hour, open windows is more fuel-efficient - but when traveling at above fifty miles an hour, the AC is more fuel-efficient.

Good -and- Bad Idea: Getting a card that gives cash back or discounts on fuel purchases. This can be a good thing, but only if you actually pay off the card in time. Otherwise, the interest rates and late fees are likely to outweigh any savings you might otherwise earn. Honestly, I advise against it -- but if you know what you're doing, you might consider this as an option.

There are many ways to save money on fuel -- by improving the mileage of your car, reducing the frequency of your visits to the pump, and getting a good deal on the fuel you buy. It takes some work, but if you're willing to make the effort, you can keep more money in your pocket. And isn't that what matters most?

Austin Cushing, Money Correspondent:
Austin's column, Common Cents, published on Tuesdays to Gather Essentials: Money, is focused on life below the poverty line and other topics that are of importance to those living paycheck to paycheck.

Austin Cushing is an eccentric writer, consultant, programmer, poet, photographer, and Microsoft-certified database administrator. He writes from personal experience and personal opinion, and enjoys finding the humor in even the darkest aspects of the world. In addition to his column, he maintains Gather groups on a diverse range of topics, from gaming to political discourse.

You can find all of Austin's Common Cents columns at http://commoncents.gather.com. Keep up with Austin's other postings and Gather activity by joining his Gather network -- just click here and select the orange "Connect" button on the left-hand side of the page.

Food for Thought:
What are you doing to try to save money on fuel costs?