You can control your gas consumption. Remember, you the owner and operator of your car, are the best fuel saving device. There are some basic tips that you can follow to ease your gas burden while traveling.

First thing you can do is get rid of all the extra stuff you have sitting in your trunk. Take out that extra tool kit, get rid of the box of paper you were going to take to the recycling center and take out the 50 pound bag of pet food you bought last week. Every 100 lbs of weight that you can take out of your car will save you 1 to 2 percent on gas. The lighter your load the more fuel efficient your car will be.

Buy gas before you leave on your trip. You already know the best places to buy gas near your home. Chances are it will be priced lower than the stations along your travel route. In fact you will be best off buying your gas the day before you leave. The day you leave you will most likely be rushed and hurried. You may not have time to go to the outlet with the best price. If you fill up the day before you will be able to do it without worrying about any deadlines.

Don’t use luggage racks. If you need to pack your car for the trip try and get everything inside the car. The wind resistance created by using luggage racks will rob you of fuel. The resistance will increase on the highway.

On the highway use your cruise control as much as you can. The more you can keep your speed constant the more fuel efficient you will be. Your cruise control will do a much better job of maintaining a steady speed than you can do manually.

Know where you are going and how to get there before you leave.  There is nothing that will waste more gas than driving around lost.  If you have maps or a GPS and you have planned your route before you start your trip, you can avoid extra driving and avoid wasting fuel.

If you use these tips you can still take that driving vacation without breaking your budget on gas costs. Following these easy suggestions will go a long way to help you control your costs.

Scott Siegel will show you how to cope with high gas prices. He is the author of a 143 page manual of industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to learn how you can improve gas mileage, increase fuel economy, and save money. Go to:  http://www.beatthegaspump.com

Some of those miles are easy to forego such as an extra trip to the store.  Some of those miles can’t be skipped such as your commute to work.  Since you have to work, you need to know how much it costs you to get to your job.

No matter the cost to get to work, you have to spend it in order to make a living.  As the price of gas continues to increase, that commute that you used to take for granted is now beginning to cost a lot of money.

Here are some examples.

At $4.00 per gallon gas cost:
If you have a 25 mile commute round trip per day
     Work 5 days per week
     You get 20 miles per gallon
     Monthly cost $108.25
     Yearly cost $ $1,300.00

At $4.00 per gallon your commute is costing you $108.25 per month or $1,300.00 per year.

If the Gas cost is $4.50 per gallon:
     If you have a 25 mile commute round trip per day
     Work 5 days per week
     You get 20 miles per gallon
     Monthly cost $121.78
     Yearly cost $ $1,462.50

At $4.50 per gallon your drive to work and back will cost you $121.78 per month or $1,462.50 per year.

If the cost of fuel gets to $5.00 per gallon
     If you have a 25 mile commute round trip per day
     Work 5 days per week
     You get 20 miles per gallon
     Monthly cost $135.31
     Yearly cost $ $1,625.00

At $5.00 per gallon, which many are predicting we could see in the near future, your monthly cost is $135.31 and your yearly cost to drive to and from work is $1,625.00.

In essence you could be paying $1,625.00 for the privilege of going to work. 

That is for a 25 mile commute.  That means you live about 12 to 13 miles from your workplace.  For many, that is not the case.  It is certainly not unusual to live 25 to 30 miles from your workplace.

At a distance of 25 miles from your home to your workplace, your round trip would be double the examples above.  That means that you could be spending up to $3,350.00 per year to go to work.  If that’s the case, you better have a very high paying job.

If you drive that far to make $30,000 to $40,000 per year, you are spending close to 10 percent of your gross wages just to get to and from work.  It would definitely be in your best interests to look for some alternatives to your situation. 

The ideal situation would be to live as close to where you work as possible.  Of course in many instances that is not realistic.  Then you need to think about ways you can mitigate that round trip expense with other ways of saving money and gas. 

You have to work.  You have to make a living.  In order to do that you need to get to your workplace.  You need to be aware of what your commute to your workplace is costing you.  As the price of gas continues to get higher, it becomes a bigger and bigger factor in your workplace decisions.

Those people must not only have a lot of money to burn (pun intended) but they seem to have no regard for any type of conservation or any regard for the environment.  There is no faster way to waste gas, money and clean air than idling your car.    

Everyone wants to get the best gas mileage from their vehicle.  It is even fashionable to compare gas mileage such that the person with the highest fuel economy numbers is  the "winner".  Then why do so many seem to ignore fuel economy by sitting in a car going nowhere with the motor running? Whether you drive a Hummer or a Honda, the biggest single gas waster is idling your car.

When you are idling you are burning fuel and your car is not moving.  That means you are getting zero miles per gallon during that time.  You are also blowing gas emissions into the atmosphere and adding to the world environmental problem.

There used to be a myth, that some still adhere to, that starting a car uses up a lot more fuel than idling for a while.  If you idle for less than 10 seconds that may be the case but if you are idling for more than 10 seconds, you are using significantly more gas than you would use by turning your car off and starting it up when you were ready to drive.

Ten seconds is the golden rule.  More than ten seconds of idling means turn your car off.  Now, I am not advocating that you turn your car off at red lights, although some hypermilers do, but I urge you eliminate idling as much as you can.

There are many opportunities to cut down on the amount of time you idle your car.  First and foremost stop using drive through anything.  Don’t use the drive through at McDonald’s.  That cheap burger could be costing you a lot more than you think when you add in the cost of the gas you are wasting in that drive through line. Don’t use the drive up auto teller.  Think how much that free checking is really costing you as you burn gas waiting for the teller to process your transaction. 

Whenever you can park your car and turn it off rather than sit idling and burning gas, do it.  Not only will walking into the bank save gas, you will get a little more exercise too! Increase your fuel economy, save yourself some money and help save the planet all at the same time by doing something as simple as reducing the amount of time your car is idling.  You will feel good about it!

Will this price increase end?  It will, but only temporarily.  It may go back down after Memorial day to some extent.  That is what happened last year.  The price went up over 3 dollars to around $3.40  and then came back down a bit.

The price reduction was only temporary.  That is what we will see again.  There will most likely be a temporary drop in the price of gas back under 4 dollars but if that is the case, don’t expect it to last.

A year ago we thought that prices over 3 dollars a gallon were high.  Now that we are at 4 dollars a gallon, those prices just over 3 dollars look like real bargains. we will have the same reaction next year when we could see prices hover near 5 dollars.  Then 4 dollars a gallon will look good.

The price of gas right now is approximately 65 cents higher than it was a year ago. If you drive 20,000 miles a year in a car that gets 20 miles to the gallon, then you will spend an extra $650.00 this year on gas. 

If you have a two car family you could double it.  If you have three cars, you can triple that number.

Beware of the snake oil salesmen out there trying to sell you everything under the sun to help your car get better fuel economy.  Put this gadget on your car and add 25% more fuel economy.  Add this to your gas tank and get up to 30% more fuel economy.  Run your car on water!!

Enough already!  There is only one way to save gas and money at the pump.  That is to use specific changes in how you manage your gas, your car and your gas purchase.  If you learn how to control those three factors you will save substantially on your gas costs.

Learn how to lower your fuel costs, use less gas, improve fuel economy and save money at the pump!  Go to http://www.beatthegaspump.com to learn how to take your money out of your gas tank and put it back in your pocket!
 

We are still a few days away from Memorial day so you can bet that the price will be even higher this weekend.  Record highs again in the price of crude oil, for the first time over $135 per barrel.  Record high average gas prices now at $3.83 according to the American Automobile association.

The hurricane season is getting ready to start.  There is always the possibility of hurricanes hitting the sensitive area of the south and southeast coast where many refineries are located.  If that happens $5.00 or even $6.00 per gallon prices are not out of the realm of possibility.

The price of gas at the pump is not the only way you are affected.  The price of everything else is being pushed ever higher by fuel costs.  Food is one of the most visible areas that are seeing record price increases.  The fuel crisis is sucking corn out of the food chain and into the petroleum chain.  As a result, everything that had any corn component in it is seeing huge cost increases.

Animals such as cows that have relied heavily on corn for feed have become much more expensive to maintain.  Because of this, the price of milk and beef has risen quickly.  Almost every product you can think of has high fructose corn syrup in it.  All of those foods have seen price spikes too.

How can you weather this assault on your budget and on your pocket book?  You must learn to make adjustments.  You have to learn how to control and reduce your gas costs.  Fancy additives, gadgets to install and running your car on water (yeah, right) are not going to help. 

The only way to reduce your gas costs are to learn the real strategies and activities you need to do everyday to reduce your costs.  There are real solutions and ways to cut your gas consumption.  You just need to know what to do.

Learn how to lower your fuel costs, use less gas, improve fuel economy and save money at the pump!  Go to http://www.beatthegaspump.com to learn how to take your money out of your gas tank and put it back in your pocket!

Gasoline refiners and retailers like high octane fuel because it’s a lot more profitable for them than regular. You pay 20 cents more for premium gas while the retailer only pays about 8 cents more for that same gallon. That means the retailer makes an extra 12 cents on every gallon of high octane fuel he sells.

The refineries  take in a few cents per gallon more on premium than on regular when they sell to distributors. When you realize that the few cents per gallon is multiplied by the tens of thousand of gallons of gas that refineries sell, you can see that it adds up to a lot of extra profit.

The gasoline refineries and retailers are not the only ones that make more money from high octane fuel.  Auto makers use premium gas to add to their profits too.  One way they do that is by creating a higher perceived value for their cars. 

If a car has to have high octane gasoline it must have a more expensive engine therefore the car must cost more.  Using that logic the car companies can get higher prices on some models by recommending only high octane fuel can be used in those models. This adds credibility to their contention that the car is worth more money.

Another benefit of premium fuel that auto makers capitalize on is to take advantage of the anti-knock properties of high octane gas.  By designing engines to be optimized for that property of high octane fuel they can create engines that in fact do get more horsepower out of high octane gasoline then out of regular.

Since there is some horsepower gain it allows the car makers to advertise higher horsepower ratings for their engines. Again, higher horsepower ratings means more expensive car which means more profit for the auto makers. 

These optimized for premium engines actually do put out a little more horsepower on high octane gasoline than with regular.  But most car experts and engineers seem to agree that if you use regular in a premium engine, the difference in horsepower is so small, you probably can’t tell.

High octane gas does not increase fuel economy.  Regular fuel can be run in a so called premium engine without any noticeable effect.  In the end it all comes down to money.  By convincing you that you need to use premium gasoline they are able to take more money out of your pocket and put it in theirs.
 

Scott Siegel shows you how to cope with high gas prices. He is the author of a 143 page manual of industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.

Plan ahead to take advantage of other purchases when buying gas. Check out coupons in your local area that offer money off certain items, like convenience food.  If you purchase your fuel at a service pump that has a convenience store attached then you can use your money-saving coupons for convenience purchases.

Although you are not saving money on your actual gasoline purchase, just by combining your convenience purchase with your fuel purchase you will find some money saving benefit by shopping and fueling up at the same location. You will be saving on your convenience purchase and you will be conserving fuel by not making an extra trip.

You can save money on your gas purchase if you plan when and where to fill up. Don’t wait till you are almost empty to fill your car. Plan ahead where and when you are going to purchase fuel.  Save by trying to fill up once a week at a gas station that you have discovered that sells at a good price.

If you let your tank get too close to empty you may find that you are forced to buy gasoline at a higher priced station to avoid running out of gasoline.  If you plan your purchase ahead it will allow you to take advantage of the lower  priced stations.

Scouting out the best fuel prices as you drive can save you plenty. Keep a look out for stations around your house or on roads you travel often and note the prices and locations in a notebook.  Soon you will know where the best deals are. You will have created your own local database of prices without using any additional gas to do it.

Sometimes waiting to buy fuel can save you money. (Note: Most of the year this holds true but sometimes this is not the case such as late spring and summer when the price just keeps going up till memorial day.) If on a particular day you cannot find the price you were looking for, wait a day or two and you may still find your price. The price of gas is constantly changing. A few days could make a difference.  Again if you plan to fill up well before your tank is close to empty you will have the flexibility to be able to wait till you find the right station with the right price.

A little advance planning can go a long way to help control your fuel costs.  It may seem like a small thing to do.  Just remember all the small things you do to help save gas and money will add up to big savings over time.

According to the American Automobile Association the average driver puts about 15,000 miles a year on their cars.  At 20 miles per gallon as an estimated fuel economy number, that means that the average driver will use 750 gallons of gas this year.  That means that the average two car family will use 1500 gallons of gas. 

At 1500 gallons of gas, a 10 cent increase in the price of gas equates to 10 cents times 1500 gallons which amounts to $150.00 over the course of a year.  For most families, that would be a minimum. 

In the U.S. the average car to driver ratio is 3 cars for every four people.  So on average every four person family has three cars to fill up.  With three cars, the increase caused by a 10 cent jump increases to $225.00 per year.  If any of those cars get less than 20 miles per gallon like most SUVs, then your annual increase will be even higher.

Based on that information you can see how a 10 cent increase in a gallon of gas will cost you anywhere from $150.00 on up to about $300.00  Now visualize how much it will cost if the price does go to $4.00 per gallon.

If the current average is about $3.50 (as of the week of April 22, 2008) and the price increases to $4.00, that is an increase of 50 cents.  At 50 cents the annual increase for a family would be between $750.00 and $1500.00!

You could be looking at spending $1500 dollars more for gas this year than last year, and that doesn’t take into account the fact that the price of $3.50 that is the average now, is almost 80 cents higher than at this time a year ago.

The problem for most is obvious, where is the extra $1500 dollars to spend on gas going to come from?  It will be cutting back on gas consumption and it will be cutting back on other things like groceries, or movies or dinners out at restaurants. 

One thing is for certain, this summer looks like it will be a difficult one for everyone.

Scott Siegel shows you how to cope with high gas prices. He is the author of a 143 page manual of industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.

Monday saw record highs for oil and gas.  According to the AAA gas prices rose to a record high average per gallon of $3.50.  Gasoline has risen 22 percent in the last year, and some analysts expect prices close to $4 a gallon this summer, typically the time of the year when demand is at a peak. 
 
Even diesel prices posted huge increases. Diesel prices reached $4.20 a gallon on Monday, on average, compared with $2.93 a gallon last year, according to AAA.

Rising inflation and a falling dollar have exacerbated the rise in prices. The dollar recently touched a low of 1.59 against the euro.  Since all oil is traded only in U.S. dollars the weak dollar is contributing significantly to the rise in oil and gas prices.

Another factor in the rising price of oil were reports that a Nigerian rebel group had blown up pipelines in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. An earlier attack on a pipeline, last week, forced Royal Dutch Shell to curtail exports by 169,000 barrels a day.

There is little relief to expect from oil producers, at least in the short term. Oil producers remain deaf to pleas to bolster production.

“OPEC has put the maximum supply in the market — this is not a problem of supply, it’s a problem that is very connected to the financial problems in the U.S. economy,” Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela’s oil minister, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
 

If you want to put a stop on the bleeding from your gas tank, see how here:
http://www.beatthegaspump.com

Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to learn how you can improve gas mileage, increase fuel economy, and save money. Go to:   http://www.beatthegaspump.com
 

Gasoline becomes denser in colder temperatures.  Gas pumps are set to measure the volume of the fuel that you pump and not the density. If gas is denser then you are actually getting more gas in a gallon than you are getting when it is warmer and less dense.

This means that if you fill up your gas tank in the cooler morning temperatures, or in the colder evening hours, that you’ll be getting better gas price economy. Filling up your gas tank later in the evening may also help you to avoid the rush of day hours and you will not waste gas idling while waiting for a pump to open up.

2. Avoid running too close to empty

Try not to drive your car until the gas gauge is on or close to  empty.  All the loose dirt that may have built up in your gas tank over time will be sucked into the engine. This is not good for the engine and will cause a marked drop in the MPG of your car.

In addition to the lowered MPG if you are at empty you may have to fill your tank at the first station you come across and you may be forced to pay a high price rather than wait till you find a station with a lower price.

Keep your gas level above the quarter tank mark if at all possible.  You should plan to purchase gas when your tank is somewhere between one half and one quarter full.

3. Turn the nozzle

When you have finished filling up your gas tank try turning the nozzle of the hose a full 180 degrees. This will drain a bit more gas into your tank; in some cases up to an entire half cup that would otherwise be a bonus to the next gas customer. 

Once you get into the habit of turning the hose you’ll find yourself doing it without thinking.  That extra half cup that you get each time that you fill your gas tank can add up to a lot of extra gas at the end of the year that you would have otherwise left for the next motorist.

If you fill up once a week and you can squeeze an extra half cup out of the hose each time, that would be 52 half cups per year.  That would equate to 1.625 gallons. 

In other words just by turning the hose each time you will get 1.625 gallons of gas free.  A two car family would realize over 3 gallons of "free" gas per year, all with just a small flick of the wrist.

These are just a few of many things you can do to maximize your fuel economy and gas purchases. Just thinking about gas and the things you can do will help you make a habit out of saving gas.