You know the drill all too well: you pull up to fill up and wonder if it is possible to save money at the pump after seeing the price per gallon!
While it’s not going to be pretty at the pumps anytime soon, you can start saving money at the pump right now with a few simple tweaks.
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Start Saving Money At The Pump Now!
These are my best money-saving tips for those who are sick of the pricey gasoline we are paying for.
While it is very hard to combat gas price inflation as it is at a record high, there are things you can do to help a bit.
Every little bit helps and these 7 ideas to combat gas price inflation may just stick with you!
You can expect to save money.
I won’t lie and tell you it will be dollars, but it will be cents and if you have to drive, cents on the dollar will add up to dollars over a few fills.
Yes, the gas inflated pricing is a challenge, but it can be lightly tamed with a few tricks.
Pain At The Pump Is a Big Ouch
Even without sharing political views or beliefs, I can easily say that the pain at the pump is a big OUCH.
This is affecting everything from transportation for pleasure to getting products to us and then our personal budgets!
In every way, each of us will need to combat gas price inflation in some way in our homes.
Whether it is how you shop, where you shop, or something you are shopping for, the prices are and will continue to rise because of the gas prices rising.
I’ll share how to save money at the pump, and I hope these ideas will also help you save money on everything else you have to purchase.
Other Quick Driving Tips To Save Your Life, Other’s Life + Money
- Don’t use your phone while you are driving
- Don’t drive under the influence
- Try to avoid driving in the snow
- Don’t be an angry driver
Any of these can lead to a car crash or, even worse, death.
If drinking, or upset about life, use Uber, Lyft, and taxis as they all exist to help you stay out of issues behind the wheel of a car such as those.
PRO TIP:
But if you have suffered injuries in a car accident, and you know it’s from a driver that’s under the influence, then you need to take legal action.
Don’t despair; these are tips to save money at the pump.
I’ll share how to:
- pay the minimum of the big prices out there
- not use as much gas
- grocery shop differently
- shop differently
- get the most efficient use out of that filled tank
Consolidate Those Errands and Work Trips
Before each day, I have a list, and I use that list to have a very clear vision of the upcoming day.
I am able to organize where I will be and when I will be there.
If I am at work and have to pick up the kids, I look for what stores I need while I am in the area.
I don’t make trips back and forth to my home until I am home for the day unless I am purchasing so much that the car can’t hold it and the kids.
For those that need to go to the grocery, and run a Target trip, a school pickup, and afterschool sports, do it all at one time.
While you do the drop-off, run to the store, grab what you need and go back to the sports time pickup.
If you are at your work in your office setting, use your time and resources around you to fulfill what errands you might otherwise have to run back and forth for.
Want some ‘Gas Buddy’? Save money on Gasoline with an app!
The App to help you pay the least of the inflated prices is one of a few but by far my favorite: Gas Buddy.
These options will help you save money and earn money.
In order to make the saving money begin you may have to be a little flexible about where you fill-up.
So let’s start there.
Grab your phone and download the app called GasBuddy.
My family loves this app because it offers relevant, real-time pricing.
Pop your zip code in there or let the app track your location and you’ll see the gas prices around you.
Now, this is great for those of you that have just one place you will be in a day or more because you can check out all the prices around you and then decide when you will get gas and where!
We’ve found it useful to save anywhere from 5 cents a gallon up to .25 a gallon.
Every bit of savings adds up so use it diligently and you will save dollars.
There is another way to save using Gasbuddy but I am not their spokesperson so read their site to learn.
Cashback Matters to Combat Gas Inflation
For those of you that love your cash back credit cards, get ready to wear a hole in that plastic!
Use them to make cashback on every single gas purchase and never forget.
If you have to spend money, at least let the spending make you money!
Conversely, keep reading because you can use this method below to save more! ↓
There are Days of the week to avoid filling up
If you watch the pricing you might find that the prices towards the weekend day increase.
Many are home, running errands and tending to their personal lives, and with that comes an increase in demand for filling up your tank with gas.
Well, the prices spike!
Don’t do it if you can avoid it!
Pay With Cash
It’s green and mean and it gets can lead to less pain at the pump.
If you guessed a leprechaun you guess wrong, but they are green and mean too!
Mean in this context actually signifies ‘fabulous’!
Cold hard cash will help you save money at the pump as cash prices are often less by pennies on the dollar than credit.
Use this to your advantage and also because using cash means you won’t have bills coming in to deal with later as you would if you used a credit card!
Warehouse Membership Has Its Gas Priveleges!
Do you belong to any warehouse clubs?
Each of those memberships comes with discounted gas prices (and often longer than normal lines) but, hey I’ll take the line to save a few bucks won’t you?
Early in the day and right before closing are your least busy moments at these pumps.
Don’t forget to use the credit card if you have that with your membership to earn even more value for future trips as you can earn cash back for shopping.
Work From Home – The Irony Is Uncanny
Didn’t the USA just give the ‘green light ‘ to go ahead back to the office and work?
The mask mandate has been lifted in so many states and vaccines are in full swing?
All I can say is really and Oh the Irony!
Choose to work remotely, work from home as much as you can, in order to not have to spend on fuel.
Working from home can save you from that daily commute where you have to sit in traffic and use gasoline that you are paying through the nose for, so try to work remotely!
Fuel Savings At Your Favorite Pump Places
We live in Pittsburgh so one of our favorite stops for gas and coffee and the like is SHEETZ.
Just like Sheetz offers a fuel rewards program, so do many other gas rewards programs.
Off the top of my head, I know of
BPme, Speedway Speedy rewards, Circle K, Shell rewards and a few others so Google them and find out more.
On average we save 3 cents a gallon just with our Sheetz card, and while it may not seem sassy, fill up enough and you save dollars through those pennies and of course rewards to use in the store as a loyalty member!
Shortest. Fastest. Navigation Choices Matters
I suggest using WAZE or Google Maps choosing the path of least resistance where you will take the shorter distance or not sit in traffic!
Nav apps are great resources to save you time, which will save you money because you won’t be driving as long or sitting in traffic idly wasting fuel.
Riding Together is the New Solo
You know there’s a lot to be said for riding together and a lot to be said for riding solo.
However, living with the inflated gas prices, it would be better to be stuffed in a car with a few others and splitting the cost than riding solo.
Park once, and walk to as many of the other stores as possible
Consolidate trips and errands go out once instead of many times.
Save Money At The Pump: Online Shopping For Food + Household Items
Rather than running out to Old Navy, shop online or whatever store you shop at frequently.
If you need prescriptions use a mail-order service, or see if your local pharmacy delivers.
Amazon and Walmart are monster online stores and have a lot of stuff to choose from
Better yet, you don’t have to leave the house and often returns are easy peasy and could be done on one of your consolidated errands runs to combat gas price inflation as discussed above
For clothing, ordering online is so fun, offers way more selection, and often much better pricing than the traditional brick and mortar to incent you to shop!
Let the items come to your door rather than running for them, saving you time, and pain at the pump!
As for groceries, order them and get them delivered when you are home and ready!
Grocery Store Rewards For Gas
While I have discussed most apps already, and I have shared using your warehouse clubs for gasoline and to alleviate pain at the pump, there’s one I have not yet discussed.
For Pittsburgh, we have a Giant Eagle. If you shop there and have a Perks card, well you will earn as you purchase.
So, there is also Kroger and many other grocery stores that offer this so check for them and make every single purchase count whether you order groceries to be delivered (it still counts) or pick them up yourself.
Fuel-Efficient Vehicles ?
It is definitely time to look into cars that can be electrically charged, or go so far on a charge and then switch over to gas.
We recently did a comparison of a BMW to a few others and what I learned is that if I just used the vehicle locally as a whole, I could really just charge my car and travel without getting gas.
Yep, so I would need a special charger installed, and driving under 30 miles locally would keep me in the charged phase otherwise I would move over to using fuel
However, I will be honest, I passed on the BMW because the upfront cost and the cost of the electrical box needed to charge the car outweighed the short-term benefits and it is not quite a perfected science for this brand.
I will note there was a tax break for buying the electric car but not enough to bring me over the mountain to purchase it and the sales guy was whack too but that is all in this story here!
There are many efficient vehicles out there and overall you will still probably pay less at the pump to drive than you would invest in an electric vehicle.
Here’s the other catch, since the fuel prices are rising, so are the less ‘used to not as popular’ electric cars.
Decide To Save Money At The Pump and Stick To It
See what I did there? Stick as in Stick people, lol.
While this is no laughing matter, do figure out which method works best for you and stick to it!
While we are going to be the victims of the current situation, you can at least try to combat gas price inflation and that pain at the pump by using a few of these ideas combined. ~ Dana XO
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