A Big Thank You

I just wanted to extend a big thanks to my company for giving us gift cards for gas. While times are tough and gas prices are raping us all it really made my day to know that my company does recognize that it's employees are hurting. We have all been complaining about how these prices are affecting us & my biggest cut has been food & socializing. I used to buy way more fresh fruits and veggies and now I can no longer afford to do so. I also used to go out 1 night a week which I can no longer afford either. Having a free tank of gas will really help me to stock up on some food, pay other bills, and spend some time with my friends and family that have been neglected by me due to this rough economical climate. We had tried to get the office to go to a four day work week but that obviously was not feasible and receiving these gas cards just lets me know that making our concern known to management really did make a difference after all!! So if you are struggling at work to make ends meet because of the price of gas, maybe it won't hurt to voice your concern and see if your employer might be willing to help you out too. After all, a happy employee makes a healthy working environment!!

Save on Gas!!

Ok people, so I’ve been pretty damn proud of myself as of late because I’ve been saving so much money! Since living alone I now have more crap to buy, which in turn means more money to spend. Then to my dismay the cost of gas went up causing the cost of food to go up & I now have even more money to spend & I had just worked my new budget after moving. So anyway, I obviously had to rearrange my budget to accommodate all of these cost increases, which led me to coupon clipping & saving gas. There really isn’t much that you can do to save gas when you aren’t willing to walk or ride a bike or buy a hybrid but you can stretch your tank a bit. I am now running about 14-16 days on 1 tank of gas as opposed to the 10 days I was running before. Now in any given week I drive a minimum of 110 miles which includes my 5 trips to and 4 from work and my weekly trip to & from Dearborn for family dinner. Back when I first moved (and gas was about $3 a gal) I would throw 20 bucks in my tank every Sunday & that would just about get me through the week although if I wanted to do anything on the weekend I would be pushing it.

I say the first trick is filling up your tank rather than just chucking some gas in there every few days (why I’m not sure but trust me), now I filled up my tank the other day & it cost me like 40 bucks which is insane (I drive a Focus by the way) but if I can make that 40 bucks last 2 weeks then it is no different than me throwing in a 20 every week other than the fact that my gas is costing me a dollar more per gallon. Ok, enough about my mileage, here is how I make my gas stretch.
Constantly slamming on the gas & the brakes eats up a ton of gas & you probably don’t even realize it. I now accelerate slowly, there is no reason to slam on the gas at every green light nor is there any reason to slam on your brakes at every red light, pay attention & just take your foot off of the gas to slow down & then brake once you get closer to the light. We all have been stuck behind the ass rider who is constantly braking because they don’t want to hit the person in front of them, keep a slight distance behind them just in case & pay more attention to the car in front of them & if you see them brake then you might want to, otherwise just ignore the constant braking because that fool is wasting tons of gas, oh, don’t tail people either or you will be that ass rider wasting gas.
Go the speed limit instead of 10 over on the freeway especially if it’s a longer trip, this could save you gallons because obviously the faster you go the more gas you are using so why speed & get a ticket on top of all of that gas you are wasting?
Remove any items from your car that you don’t really need especially if they are heavy because it really does make a difference especially if your car is used to just toting you around.
Keep your tires filled as much as they are supposed to be filled (this info can be found in your owner’s manual or often behind your fuel door) and I would suggest checking them every few weeks & keeping up on it.
Change your air filter if it needs it (every 6 mos to a year), if you aren’t sure if it needs a new one just pull out the old one & if it looks all dirty then replace it, they are cheap & very easy to replace, again, see your owner’s manual or ask someone who can show you how to change it out. Keep up on scheduled maintenances, get your oil changed & your oil place should be able to tell you what other services you should get done & how often. I know some of these places will try to cram services down your throat but I find that Valvoline Instant Oil Change will make suggestions but they have never asked if I wanted additional services other that what I requested when pulling in.
If you are picking someone up or just have to wait for some other reason, turn your car off, why waste the gas just sitting there. Do your best to try less congested routes to work; this avoids all the stop & go of a clustered freeway. Keeping your windows closed can help cut down on gas usage but when it is super hot I think having the window open is cheaper than running the A/C.
That’s about all of the gas saving techniques I have put into play as of late so go ahead & try some of them out for yourself & see how much gas you save!! Stick around; tomorrow I’ll be posting tips on saving money on food.