My latest venture in trying to save more money is trying to cut back on my gas budget. Why attack the gas budget? Well, firstly, gas is just not environmentally friendly. It’s 2019! Climate Change is REAL!! Ok – I’m glad we got that out of the way. The real reason I want to cut down on my gas budget is because I felt it was an area I could really improve. Value #1 of the Fire Philosophies is to Spend Less. If you are already strategic about driving and only go grocery shopping when you have a long list of food items, then it probably wouldn’t be beneficial to start with your
Why I Like to Go Home for Lunch
Part of my job requires me to travel around to various places in my city. I live close enough to these locations that I often get to go home for lunch to check on my dog and eat. I love stopping by my house in the middle of the day because it seems to make work go by faster. There’s always a quick pick me up consisting of hugs and kisses from our CanineStoker waiting at the door. In addition, it doesn’t take as long to get ready in the morning since I’m not packing my lunch to take with me. Sometimes I can even do some dishes or fold some laundry in my 30 minute break. Really there are no downsides to the luxury of going home in the middle of the day for a few minutes.
What going home for lunch means for gas mileage
Since my job requires driving around to various locations, I do get reimbursed for my mileage. I do not get to count my miles leaving the work sites to go home, eat lunch, and go back to work. This means I’m basically driving to work twice every day. I started doing this when we got our dog and I’ve noticed the length of time I go between fill ups at the gas station go down drastically.
Our Gas Budget
We have a very strict gas budget. This includes extra road trips we might take to go somewhere exciting like the beach or a campground that might be an hour or more away. I get $100/month for gas while Mr. FireStoker gets $120/month for gas. We live in a central location and work in different cities. He has a much longer commute than I do, but he’s also not driving around a city all day.
I started to think of different ways I could cut back on the amount I drive to start saving up extra gas money for our road trips. At first it seemed as if I only drove when necessary. But after some soul searching I realized there really was more I could do to cut back. In January I started to bring my lunch with me as much as possible to avoid driving home to pick it up. At first I was sad. I really did enjoy my mid-day hugs and kisses from CanineStoker. Yet I soon found other ways to decompress on my lunch. By the end of the month, I had plenty of extra gas money to bring us on our frugal weekend trip to Boston. I’m going to continue this trend to save as much as possible. Who knows? I may even have to lower my gas budget in the future.
Can You be a One Car Family?
Now if you really want to cut back on your transportation expenses, you can forgo driving altogether. I have a friend who bikes to work and absolutely loves it! That’s one less insurance payment, no registration fees, no maintenance, tires, cleaning, ect. Unfortunately I use large amounts of equipment at work and I’m required to have a vehicle. As for Mr. FireStoker, his commute is so long that biking to work is out of the question. We also don’t have any worthwhile alternative transportation methods in our area like trains, buses, or carpools. However I do bike as much as possible when it is feasible and safe. For example, I biked to a fair and locked it outside the fair grounds. We also saved on parking fees and of course gas!
Have you decided to go do down to one car in your family? Were there any surprise challenges or benefits? What are some creative way you save on gas and transportation?
For those that have the ability to bike to work, I recommend it! I use to bike to work for a summer when my work was about a 30 minute bike ride from where I was living and not only did I save on money, but it improved my overall lifestyle. I was healthier, and happier because there is nothing better then starting the day with fresh air rather than gas fumes. I did save a lot of money in gas and car expenses during that period of time, and if I lived closer to my current job, I still be biking.
Whew! 30 minutes! Nothing like fresh air and light exercise to put you in the right frame of mind to start the day. Have you ever tried biking anywhere else as a mode of transportation besides work? It seems to be very trendy nowadays.