I was going to start this post by asking if you knew that I was born on Earth Day, but then I had the good sense to look it up, and found out that it's actually celebrated on the day after I graced Earth with my presence. Oh well, we'll deal, right?
With a baby on the way, the pressure is on to pinch those pennies. And since I drive a big SUV, I'm a card-carrying member of the gas-pump-blues club. When gas hit $3.75, I started paying more than $75 to fill up after my gas light comes on (which happens more than I'd like to admit). This isn't a pity party though, and if it were, you wouldn't be invited. I don't like my situation, so I'm doing something about it.
The obvious fix is to get rid of the truck, and it is something we've carefully considered and decided against. We go camping and fishing (with our canoe) regularly and there's no way we could do those things with a compact car, let alone fit all of our stuff and the dog. We would end up taking two cars, defeating the purpose.
We have always limited use of the truck to necessary occasions, and always take wifey's car when going out together, and I use mass transit or telecommute where possible. But at $4.10+ per gallon now, I'm dreading my next trip to the pump.
Megan reads Readers Digest and showed me an article about some nutjob who can eek out 180mpg (in a hybrid) by — basically — driving slower. He despises hitting the brake, so he tries to time everything to where he coasts to a stop when he has to. He regularly takes turns at 50+ mph in order to not waste his downhill momentum. Obviously he's an extreme case, but it did make me think about how I can improve my own mileage, and soften the blow to my wallet a bit.
So lately I've been making a conscious effort to drive slower overall — going 55 as opposed to 70 on highways takes an average of about 3 minutes longer to get "there," but has improved my mpg by about 3 or 4. I'm more aware of my brake use and follow further behind people to allow me room to coast when they tap their brakes. I take my roof-rack (sail) off between uses. I try to stay on top of filling my tires with air if they get low (Wawa has free air), and so far I've been good about routine maintenance and oil changes. Put the windows down when driving less than 40mph, and use the Air Conditioner for anything above that — because having the windows down on the highway causes more drag-related gas efficiency loss than using the AC.
All in all, I've improved my mileage by about 4-8, up to about 18 now, and I hope to get it over 20 soon, and in the process I've decreased my stress and haven't had to make any significant sacrifices or changes to my lifestyle or schedule.
The only way to bring gas prices down is to reduce dependence. I'm doing my part… are you?
And although we're far from done, here's what we've accomplished in a weekend. Click the collage for the full photo set.
Also… this?
Not as easy as it looks!
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