Cost saving tips car commuting.

I've been a little focused on the bike commutes so far. Hey it's still new to me. Cut me a little slack. I understand that not everyone can commute by bicycle, so some other lessons I've learned for saving gas. The 1994 Geo Prizm that I am replacing is rated to get a combined city/highway MPG of 26. I get 36 MPG driving and I'm rarely driving highway miles.

Having a car get 36 miles instead of 26 means I use 1.6 less gallons of gas when I drive 5 days a week (about 155 miles).

Over the course of the year, I'll use about 80 less gallons of gas commuting. This means more jewelry and flowers for my wife. Which might help me get more time to commute by bike, leading to more jewelry and flowers. Not too bad of a cycle, don't you think?

I calculate the MPG for my car every time I fill up the tank. That way I can tell if my driving habits are slipping or if things are working, or the car needs some attention. There are a number of websites where you can learn to calculate MPG.

I keep the tires inflated to at least the recommended psi value, but not above the maximum tire pressure. I try to check it weekly.

I accelerate slowly up to my steady traveling speed. This isn't always the speed limit, but remember the more you speed, the worse your gas mileage is going to be.

I take my foot of the gas and coast when I am approaching a light that is or will be red before I'd get there. Extreme hyper milers will shut the car off.

I coast going down hills. On the way into work, if lights are in my favor, I can coast almost 3 miles out of 15 without slowing up traffic.

I commute during off peak times whenever possible. This varies throughout the year. If I leave my house by 7:20 I spend less time wasting gas sitting at red lights. If I can leave work before 4:30 then the traffic out of Annapolis isn't too bad. The commute time winds up being shorter, so I can spend more time during things I like to do.

I only use air conditioning when it is really hot. On most days the vents and windows are sufficient. When I lived in Florida, my car didn't have AC and I survived, it's not any hotter here.
During the warmer months, I park my car so it has been in the shade for at least an hour when I leave work. I also use sunshades. This means I don't need to use the AC to cool of the car when I start out home.

There are other tips to increase your car's MPG out there.

To save on commuting costs either increase the MPG of your commuting vehicle or reduce the number of miles you drive. Some ideas for this are to use mass transit, carpool, ride a bike, walk, run, kayak, telecommute, or work a compressed work week. This is by no means a comprehensive list, feel free to use your imagination or google.