Kelly writes in:
For the first time in my life, I have a daily commute to work. I drive about 45 minutes each way to work each day of the week. According to my math, I’m going to be spending about $125 a month just on gas, let alone maintenance, upkeep, and so on. When I look at it that way, my new job isn’t as awesome as I thought it was! What can I do to trim that amount?
Here are ten things I would suggest for anyone who is seeking to optimize their commute and minimize the financial cost of it.
1. Start (or join) a carpool. I wrote an article recently on how to start a carpool, but if you can find one that already exists, join that one instead. It not only reduces the number of days per week that you have to drive, it also allows you to use the more efficient HOV lanes during the commute.
2. Properly inflate your tires each month. Few things damage your gas mileage than poorly inflated tires. Think of a bicycle and how much extra effort you have to exert when your tire is even a little bit flat. The same is true for your car – it might be plenty inflated to make the trip, but if it’s even a bit under the recommended maximum level, your car is working harder to go the same distance, and that eats gas.
3. Find the optimum route. Unless the route to your job is incredibly straightforward, there are several different routes you could potentially take to your job. Spend some time to figure out the optimum route – the one that eats the least amount of gas, in other words. Use Google Maps to help you in this regard. Finding a more efficient route will simply shave transportation costs (and possibly time) off of your daily commute.
4. Identify the low-priced gas stations along your route. Take note of the gas stations available to you along the route and identify the ones that consistently have the best prices (if there is variance – usually, there is). Then, make that station (or stations) your regular stop to fill up your tank.
5. Use a “gas card” …