Save Money – Page 3 – dollardollarnow.com

I honestly can’t believe how expensive gas is these days. At the time of writing, gas has hit it’s highest marks ever. Over $4.00 dollars per gallon is pretty outrageous. And some places like California are seeing over $6.00 dollars per gallon! That’s insanity at its finest. But whether you’re reading this when prices are high, or you’ve found this post as gas has become cheaper again, we can all do with saving some money on your gasoline bill. So today we’re going to go over 27 of the best and most awesome ways to save money at the gas pump. These tips are the culmination of years of driving, a lot of effort in already trying to save money at the pump, and some pretty hefty research into how we can all save more money on gas. Because just having to buy gas sucks. But we all need it to get places. So why not try to save some money on it? Yep, let’s go find out how. 27 awesome ways to save money at the gas pump 1. Cash back apps Cash back apps are the best. I use Upside (formerly called GetUpside) every time I fill up any of our cars and I always get cash back. There are a couple of apps that I use but Upside has been very generous so I’ve continued using it for a couple of years now. With Upside, you pick which gas station you’d like based on the location and how much cash back they offer. You buy your gas, upload your receipt (or check in with a card on file), and you get cash back after a day or two. Simple and easy. Over the course of a couple of years, I’ve earned almost $400 dollars on this app. Not a whole lot but still cool to have. And you can cash out every $15 dollars! If you’d like to try out Upside, check it out using this referral link. When you sign up with that link, we both get a small referral bonus! You can also check out the 11 best apps for cash back at the pump here on mymillennialguide.com. 2. Fuel Rewards programs There are A LOT OF fuel rewards programs these days through almost every gas station and grocery store. And they all offer a decent amount of cash back on each gallon (from ¢.5-10 cents a gallon). We used to use these but ended up switching to using primarily Upside due to making more money in cash back. But these can be an awesome way to save extra money at the pump! If you can’t find a fuel rewards program, you can check out the pennyhoarder.com’s post here on the best fuel rewards programs. 3. DON’T sign up for fuel credit cards Most personal finance blogs are going to tell you to sign up for fuel reward credit cards. Well, I’m not. Because I believe that credit cards are absolutely horrible and dangerous for the majority of people. So I’m recommending that you stay away from fuel reward credit cards because they are going to cost you money (if you don’t immediately pay them off). Just skip the credit card fuel rewards and do everything else on this list to save at the gas pump. For more on why I don’t like credit cards, check out my post, “37 Reasons Why Credit Cards are Bad (and Ruining Your Life!)” 4. Compare prices Comparing prices is a HUGE way to save money at the gas pump. Over the years, I can’t even tell you how much I’ve saved in just comparing the prices from station to station. Some people won’t even look to see how much they spend every time they fill up and that’s a huge financial mistake. Even if you don’t want to put in a lot of effort to save money on gas, you can still scan a rewards card or put in a phone number for some money off. If I ever get gas at Sheetz, I scan my card for ¢.3 cents off per gallon. It happens sporadically, but I always try to save money at the pump in every way that I can. One of the best ways to compare prices is with the Gas Buddy app. This app is amazing and can do a couple of things: show you the cheapest gas in the entire area, show you the closest gas nearby, and the cheapest gas that is the closest to you. I love that feature. Just type in Gas Buddy in your phone’s App Store. This app has a ton of other features so check it out! 5. Best prices in the area If you’re serious about saving money at the gas pump, you need to start learning which areas near you have the most expensive gas (so you can avoid them) and which have the cheapest gas (that you will use). I live in a place that has relatively cheap gas all around the city - Greensboro, NC. But I do know which specific areas run a few cents cheaper and which areas charge way more than normal. Learn these areas in your town or city and that will help you out on your gasoline bill in the long run. 6. Wholesale clubs If you’re a member of a large wholesale membership club like Costco or Sam’s Club, optimize that membership by using their gas pumps. Yes, you do pay a membership fee at these places. But you can often save a lot of money in the store and even more at the club’s gas pumps. This is an easy ¢.20-.30 cent saving per gallon! This article here on consumerreports.org states that the gas savings alone could cover your membership costs! 7. Pay cash There are a ton of stations that will give you a decent discount for just using cash! This tip has been around for a long time because gas stations know that credit and debit costs money in transaction fees, while cash doesn’t have any of those fees. Gas stations do have to pay their share of taxes on the gas, but they can pass savings on to the consumer if a consumer helps to save them money by paying with cash. Now this isn’t going to save you a lot of money, but I’ve often seen cash help to save you around ¢.10-20 cents per gallon. Hey, why not? 8. Don’t buy gas on Thursday (or Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) It looks like the first couple days of the week are the cheapest days to buy your gas. According to the first article in this section here from USAtoday.com, a study from the Gas Buddy App has shown them that as of 2019, the worst days to get gas were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In the most recent study (link here) sent to moneytalksnews.com, as of 2021, Thursday was the absolute worst day to get gas. So make sure you fill up your tank in the beginning of the week to save yourself just a little bit of money! 9. Buy gas at the right times of day You can even save money on gas by buying it at certain times of day. According to multiple sources, including this article here on business.time.com, the absolute best times to buy gas are between 8am and 10am. Why? Well, according to that post, gas station managers don’t start checking prices until around these times. And once they notice competitors raising their prices, at around 10am, they’ll start notching the prices higher and higher to match what other stations are charging. The other reason to get your gas early is because once gas gets hot (the later it gets in the day), the gas expands just a little bit. That means you’re getting a little bit less gas for what you’re paying at the pump. So get your gas EARLY on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. 10. Fill your tank all the way In order to save more money at the gas pump, another method you can use is to make sure and fill up your tank all the way every single time. Now there’s actually a couple of reasons why this is smart. First, if you keep going to the station and only adding $10-20 dollars at a time, you’ll have to fill up your tank twice as much. Not only will you be using extra gas to get to the station twice as much but you’ll be wasting twice as much time by having to go multiple times. Second, by filling your tank all the way up, you’ll have more time to search for your next station for another fill-up. That will help give you options to choose from instead of only the nearby station when you’re almost on empty. Lastly, if your tank is always riding on empty, you’re likely to continue putting a strain on your fuel pump and your pump has to work harder to continue sucking up less and less fuel. You’re also more likely to suck up the remaining dirt and particles at the bottom of the tank if you run it all the way down to empty. All of that could damage the fuel pump and your fuel lines that run through the car. So try to keep your car full of gas to avoid these problems! If you’d like to learn more on why it’s important to fill up your tank all the way, check out this post here on armourinsurance.ca. 11. Premium gas? Only if required Now before I write the main part of this section, please hear me: if your car REQUIRES premium gas, put premium gas into it. I do not want you to screw up your car. Then it won’t matter if you’re saving a few dollars at the gas pump because you’ll need a completely new car if you mess yours up. However, if you have a car where they “recommend” the use of premium gas, you might want to first try and see if you notice a difference between using regular and using premium gas. Each company and each car in this category can be different. Try both. If you see a huge difference in how your car performs, you might want to stick with premium. But if you can’t tell a noticeable difference in how the car performs, use regular gas because of the price difference at the pump. If your car doesn’t require or recommend premium, go regular all the way and save that money! There won’t be any benefit, only lost money at the pump. For more on regular vs. premium gas, check out this post here on shift.com. 12. Check your tire pressure Keeping your tires properly inflated can mean the difference in saving just a little bit of money per year or losing a little bit of money. According to fueleconomy.gov in this post here, tires that are under-inflated by just 1 PSI can cost you about .01 cent per gallon. On average, most people have tires that could be inflated by about 3 PSI which is about .03 cents per gallon. Now I understand that this isn’t a lot but let’s look at this long term. .03 cents per gallon with a 15 gallon tank once per week is about .45 cents. Times that by 52 weeks and that’s about $23.40 in savings over the year. Nothing crazy, but that’s a pizza or two. Now let’s times that by the 50 years you’re going to be driving and that’s over $1,000 dollars ($1,170 to be exact) of lost money over your lifetime. I know that’s extreme but that’s just one example of how a small savings on gas can add up big over the course of many years. So keep your tires inflated!! 13. Check your gas cap Having a damaged, loose, or missing gas cap can cost you a lot of money in lost gas over time. According to this post here on auto.howstuffworks.com, your gas cap can really cause issues for your car depending upon what kind of situation you’re in. If it’s missing, it will let evaporates out of your tank - which means lost gas - and cost you valuable dollars over time. If you have no cap, dirt and grime can also make its way into your tank, causing issues in your fuel system. This means less fuel efficiency and grime buildup in your engine (and this could cause major issues over time). This post here on knowhow.napaonline.com states that a loose fuel cap can cause the check engine light to come on and reduced fuel economy since the fuel system is not sealed. Reduced fuel economy means less miles per gallon and more money at the gas pump. They also state, just like in the first section, that gas evaporated can leak out and cause you to lose some gas in your tank. Don’t let that happen. Make sure your cap is working properly and snugly tightened on your car. 14. Keep up with vehicle maintenance Keeping up with all of your car’s maintenance can seriously help you save money at the gas pump and significantly boost your car’s fuel economy. But failing to keep your car maintained can lead to poor gas mileage and higher costs for gas every month. So here are a few things we all need to do to keep our cars in proper working order: Gas cap: we just talked about this. Make sure it is undamaged and not missing completely. Oil changes: make sure you are regularly changing the oil based on the recommendations of whatever oil you are using. If it’s a standard, inexpensive oil, every 3,000 miles has been the norm. But if you can use synthetic, this can get you better gas mileage and help your car run for 5,000 miles or more without any issues. Don’t go too far over the oil mileage or the oil can start gunking up causing reduced fuel efficiency. Use the manufacturer recommended oil: AFDC.energy.gov states in this post here that should use whatever oil your manufacturer recommends in your vehicle. This will help optimize your engine’s power and your vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Regular tuneups: tuneups essentially check all fluids, belts, and engine parts that could use cleaning and replacing. Tuneups help your engine get better fuel efficiency so that you can save on gas in the long run. Change the air filters: this post here on readersdigest.ca states that a dirty air filter can increase fuel usage by 10% percent! So make sure you replace your old air filters. You don’t want this simple issue to become an increase in your gas budget! Replace older spark plugs: that same post also states that older spark plugs can cause misfiring and incomplete combustion which can ultimately lead to wasted gas and hundreds of dollars of extra money spent on gas. Don’t let this happen! Fix anything mechanically broken: this post here on the Exxon website states that one critical part of a proper running vehicle and overall fuel efficiency is to make sure there are no mechanical issues on your vehicle. If you have anything seriously wrong, it needs to get fixed or you could be spending even more money down the line (in increased gas costs and/or in major vehicle repairs). 15. lighten your car This tip is not one that’s going to save you a lot of money, but it’s an easy way to save a few cents on each fill-up. All you have to do is make sure to keep your car as light as possible. If you have anything heavy in your car, Make sure to take it out. Some people keep heavy objects and material objects in their cars that can weigh them down and cause your car to use just a little bit more gas while driving. Obviously this would need to be A LOT of weight to really make a difference. But hey, every cent that we save counts, right? 16. remove racks One easy way to gain some fuel efficiency back in your driving is to simply remove the large storage rack from the top of your vehicle. You’ll do this get rid of as much wind resistance as possible. A large cargo or roof rack can cause significant drag (plus the added weight as well), causing the car to have to work a little bit harder and thus use just a little bit more gas. Now obviously if you’re on vacation and using one of these, it probably won’t matter that much. But over time, keeping that cargo rack on will cause you to spend a little bit more money at the pump. According to consumerreports.org in this post here, they measured a 2019 Nissan Altima’s fuel economy with and without a roof rack going 65 miles per hour. Without the roof rack, the fuel economy was found to be about 48 miles per gallon. Pretty good. Driving with a roof rack saw a noticeable difference and the fuel economy was measured at only 43 miles per gallon! That’s a 5 mile per gallon loss and could mean losing an entire gallon to worse fuel economy every time you fill up your tank! Gas is expensive so don’t let that happen!! 17. Slow down If you’re used to driving REALLY fast everywhere you go, think about slowing down just a little bit. This post here from the New York State Department of Transportation states that for every 5 miles an hour you drive over 60 miles per hour, it’s equivalent to you paying an extra .20 cents per gallon at the pump! Wow, you definitely don’t need that with the already high gas prices! 18. Bad driving habits If you’re prone to driving like a maniac, I’ll encourage you to try driving a little less erratically and learning how to become more predictable with your driving habits. Besides just generally being safer on the road, erratic start and stop driving with lots of quick acceleration and stoppage can really do a number on your vehicle. For one, that continuous quick acceleration is wasting a lot of gas. That’s money down the drain. Secondly, that’s causing unnecessary wear and tear on your engine. Lastly, that need to quickly stop all the time is wearing down your brakes and will eventually lead you to having to prematurely buy new brakes. So take it easy and save money on gas and maintenance. 19. Don’t idle Idling can be a huge waste of gas and money if you do it a lot. Idling is simply leaving a vehicle running while your car is parked and not moving. One of the easiest examples that I can give of idling is simply starting your car to warm it up in the morning. That’s what idling is. And if you do that every day, that 5 minutes can REALLY add up. Let’s do some quick math. According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Idling Fact Sheet found here, an hour of idling can use up to 1/2 gallon of gas! So if you idle for 5 minutes in the morning, that’s about .04 gallons a day and .28 gallons a week. If you do that every day for a year, that’s 14.56 gallons - or almost $50-60 dollars - of wasted gas! If you stretch that out over your lifetime of driving (50 years), that’s over $3,000 dollars in wasted gas for just idling. So I’m not saying to never start your car and warm it up when it’s freezing outside. I’m only letting you know how much waste there could be. So be smart about this one and don’t let your car idle if it doesn’t need to! 20. Use cruise control I absolutely LOVE cruise control. Aside from allowing you to set a constant speed on the road to avoid speeding (and expensive speeding tickets), that constant travel speed using cruise control can allow you to save up to 7-14% on gas according to this post here on kia.com. That’s because the normal constant accelerating and decelerating without cruise control is causing your car to use more fuel. Cruise control keeps the car’s speed constant in the most efficient manner possible. Use it and save money on gas! 21. Hypermiling Hypermiling is an interesting concept that came about in the early 2000’s when gas prices started soaring sky high. Simply put, according to Wikipedia, “Hypermiling is driving or flying a vehicle with techniques that maximize fuel efficiency [to the extreme].” Essentially, if you used a few of the tips from this list together and tried to stretch out your miles per gallon in your car, that’s essentially what Hypermiling is. Here’s how it works: hypermilers first evaluate if they even need to drive or not. If your trip can be replaced by a walk or a bike ride, that’s always the way to go. Other ways that hypermilers optimize their driving: Planning a route that is as direct as possible but also with the least amount of accelerating and braking. Driving at times when traffic is less busy. Optimizing their cars by keeping tires properly inflated, servicing regularly, and keeping as much weight out as possible (all things we talked about earlier in this post). When parked, if it’s cold out, a hypermiler will park in the direction of the sun to melt the windshield without the car idling. If it’s hot out, they will park in the shade so that the A/C doesn’t have to work as hard to bring the cabin temperature down. Parking in optimal positions to not use too much fuel when pulling out of parking lots. Usually parking “face out” so you’re moving immediately. Parking on slopes to use less gas when pulling out of parking spots. Driving slowly and steadily while on the move. Keeping speeds down to boost fuel economy. So you can see that hypermilers are pretty extreme when it comes to saving money on gas. If you want, you can check out this post here on autoexpress.co.uk to read more about it. If you don’t want to be that extreme just follow some of the other tips in this post to save money on gas. 22. Limit travel If you’re dead set on saving money on gas, here’s an easy one. Limit your travel or don’t travel at all! If you’re REALLY serious about having some extra cash at the end of the month in your gas budget, try to not do anything for a couple of weeks. Do a no-spend challenge and try not to spend anything! Then do a no-travel challenge and try not to do any other traveling besides work and groceries. I know this one can be pretty tough. But it’s by far one of the quickest ways to save money at the pump! 23. Plan your trips If you’re really extreme about saving gas money, one great tip is to plan out all of the routine trips you have to take. Don’t just run across town for a single item at the grocery store. Instead, make a list and go get everything you need in a single trip. You can also plan your routes if you have to go to a bunch of different places in a day. This is pretty simple. Just look at your maps app and find out where each place is. Put them in order and go to each place using your navigation. Then after the last place, travel all the way home. That’s convenient and efficient. So use it to save a bit of money on gas! 24. Get a more fuel efficient car One phenomenal way of saving money on gas is to get yourself a car that is highly fuel efficient. These days, automobile companies are making more and more cars be able to travel more miles on less gas. That’s good for the environment and good for your wallet. So find a good vehicle that can help you get to where you want to go for as cheap as possible! For an awesome list of the best, most fuel efficient cars (that aren’t electric or hybrid), check out caranddriver.com’s post here. You can also check out consumerreport.com’s list here. 25. Sell your car and use public transportation/other transportation Another unorthodox way of saving on gas, as in not spending any money on gas, is to get rid of your car altogether. If you live in a bigger city, or you have public transportation readily available to you, consider selling off your vehicle and saving money on gasoline, property taxes, vehicle maintenance, and making some cash when you sell the car. Now I do understand that there are a lot of us that actually need a car to travel for work, to the grocery store, or for the thousands of other required daily tasks. If that’s the case, there are other options to consider. The first is a moped. They’re not very stylish but they will save you A LOT of money per year. The other option you could try is to buy an electric bicycle or electric scooter. I see people riding these all the time in Greensboro. Although this isn’t going to work for my lifestyle, any of these options could be completely viable for you. So give them a shot! 26. Share rides Have you ever shared rides with someone or carpooled to work or school? Yep, I remember doing this quite often back when I was a senior in high school. Ride sharing can be insanely smart if you’re able to find someone to share rides with. I remember that we had about a 45 minute ride from my neighborhood to the local high school and this meant at least 2 or 3 people would hitch a ride with me. The more the merrier, right? Yep, because 3 people pitching in to pay for gas was a breeze. If you can do this to work or school, make it happen and save some money! 27. Buy an electric vehicle So this can be a way to save on gas but is a bit extreme. There are a few people who have taken advantage of this, but it is fairly costly and we never advise people to borrow money. This next tip is to buy an electric vehicle! I know this may not be the most cost-effective method of saving money on gas, but it will save you $20-30 dollars or more per “fill up” compared to gas. According to Kelly Blue Book’s website here, it costs about $55 dollars per month to keep an electric vehicle charged (compared to $200-300 dollars for gas per month). So if you can afford an electric vehicle, this can save you over a thousand dollars per year or more on gas. Extra - Use free or discounted gift cards I’ve never personally tried to get discounted gas gift cards, but I’ve heard that this could be something to look into if you’re an extreme cheapskate and you want to save every penny you can on gas. Nothing wrong with this route but I can’t attest to the validity since I’ve never done it. If you’d like to learn more about legit ways to get free gas cards, check out dollarsprout.com’s post here. You’re on the way to cheaper gas Hopefully you’ve been able to find a couple of tips in this post that will help you out at the gas pump. Like I said earlier, this list has years of driving experience behind it, which has allowed me and my family to save thousands of dollars over the years. If you’d like to do the same, use the tips in this post wisely and make them work for you. Don’t let gasoline expenses burn a hole in your budget. You now know how to get gas on the cheap. So go do it! Related content 17 Personal Finance Tips to Beat Inflation: The 2022 Guide 37 Ways to Give Yourself a Raise in Your Budget (#27 is Crazy!) 47 Creative Ways to Pay Off Debt [2022 Edition]