After Snowpocolypse and the winter we had in Atlanta this year, I’m always itching to get out of the house. Getting out and about in the car cost money. Between gas and wear and tear it can get kind of expensive to drive around for business or fun. With that in mind, I wanted to write a post on no hassle ways to save money on gas. Some of these ideas you may already know about and other’s may be new. Either way, if you apply a few, you’ll be paying less at the pump!
1. Gas Buddy App
Whether you are driving around town or on a vacation, this little phone app can get you to the cheapest gas in your area. Install it, enable GPS and find which gas is cheapest nearest to you or the exits ahead.
2. Clean Air Promotions
In Atlanta where I live, we have what’s called the Clean Air Campaign. It gives businesses and individuals perks for carpooling or teleworking. Several years ago, before I started staying at home, my husband and I would carpool on his motorcycle everyday. We enrolled in the program, met the requirements, earned $3 per day in a 90 day period and got a check in the mail for $100.
You can check it out here. CleanAirCampaign.org
Check to see if your city has a similar program.
3. Grocery Store Gas Promotions
Many major grocery stores have gas stations now. Stores like Publix, Kroger, Costco, Ingles and Walmart. Many times grocery stores run promotions with their store perk cards where you earn gas points based on how much you spend on groceries. When they want to up the sale of gift cards, they will offer 2X to 4X or more points when you buy gift cards.
Knocking off $1 per gallon- The catch is to look out for these promotions and take advantage of them. For example, you could buy a Kroger Gift Card for $100 every week you shop and pay for your groceries with the gift card. You get the points for the sale and points for buying the gift card. If there is a 4X point promo going on you would get $100 x 4= 400 points + 100 for your grocery bill. As the points add up you can get $0.10, $0.20, $0.30 up to $1 off per gallon of gas. Don’t forget about buying gift cards for Kroger gas and filling up with those. All the gas points are connected with your reward card and if you have any discounts to use, they will be offered for redemption at the pump after you scan your card.
4. Carpool
If you have a co-worker that lives near you, see about starting a carpool. Take turns driving to work or start splitting gas costs. If you don’t have a co-worker that lives near you consider finding a neighbor who works close by your work. Another perk to carpooling is that it keeps you from working too many hours!
5. Pick an “Errands” Day
I often find as a stay at home mom that if I don’t pick just one day a week to run errands I end up running errands every day, wasting gas and struggling to find time to maintain all my household cleaning. Things get very backed up. If I would run all my errands on one day of the week I would drive fewer miles and save lots of gas.
6. Keep Your Car in Shape
- Following the regular maintenance schedule on your car can keep things working properly and thereby keep your gas mileage low.
- Four items that I always forget are tires. I don’t often think about them until I get a flat. The fact is, you can actually save money on gas by keeping them filled up properly.
- Check out this list on how you can save money just by keeping your car maintained that I found on Fuel Economy.gov.
I hope one or more of these ideas will help you lower you fuel expenses. Have fun this summer as you travel and don’t forget to use the Gas Buddy App to find the cheapest gas on your road trip.
Kim’s is the party planning, cupcake loving, celebration catalyst behind the Thrifty Little Mom Blog. Kim was a pro event planner for over 7 years before she became a full-time blogger. Kim is the author of: Live, Save, Spend, Repeat: The Life You Want with the Money You Have. She’s been featured on Time.com, Money.com, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day and more! Kim aims to inspire you to create parties, celebrations and gatherings that everyone loves!
PaigSr says
March 20 at 7:54 amI tend to also use a web site to compare the prices of gas. And it looks like this one works all over as I have used it in more than one state. I know that there are others out there but this is the one I use.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Kim Anderson says
March 20 at 12:27 pmYes, I use Gasbuddy everytime I travel! Thanks for the tips!
Ashley Lewis says
January 6 at 6:39 pmKroger gift cards do not earn you fuel points. Buying other gift cards at Kroger does.
Annette says
August 9 at 6:26 pmVery good information. i live in Gainesville, ga. I went to the Clean air website but did not see where to sign up for telecommuting. I think my husband would qualify
Kim Anderson says
August 9 at 9:01 pmYou may need to just contact the clean air campaign people and see if they still have rewards available because now that I go on there the site seems a little hard to navigate. Wish I could be more help.