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bargainbabe
FiLife Contributor

Tips to cut your gas bill


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Reducing your gas bill comes down to two things: paying the lowest price at the pump and driving less. With the start of summer driving season, I thought I’d share tips to do both -- starting with getting the lowest gas price.

  • Check the AAA Fuel Gauge Report to monitor trends. The site lists the average gas price for today, yesterday, a week ago, a month ago and a year ago. You can look at prices nationwide, by state or major metro region. Data comes from 100,000 gas stations.
  • Search MSN’s gas map for the best prices near your home or on your route. A green marker tags the lowest price, a red marker notes the highest. You can zoom in or search by state, city, and zip code.
  • An alternative to the MSN map is GasBuddy.com, which lists gas prices that have been spotted and entered into the site by users. Search for prices by location, grade of gas, or brand.

Tips to conserve gas (no silver bullet here, folks):

  • Carpool, take public transit, or telecommute to work
  • Drive sensibly (read: slowly). Speeding can increase gas costs by 40 percent!
  • Ride your bike whenever you can -- it’ll save you money and get you in shape
  • Select the highest mpg vehicle available to you (in my neighborhood a few folks have converted golf carts!)
  • Consider buying a hybrid, scooter/motorcycle, or other high mpg vehicle

Some people swear by additives, but I’ve never seen any hard evidence. Do you put anything extra in your gas tank?

More Resources:

Julia Scott is a cheapskate by nature and a journalist by training. She writes the savvy-spending blog BargainBabe.com.


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