CenTex Guytips for saving money
June 11th 2008 08:09
Texas heat. Rising gas prices. That’s a pretty bad combination in a hurting economy.
Texas hasn’t really suffered as much from the sagging economy as much of the nation has, but now that gas is up to $4 a gallon, Texans, who love to drive trucks, may feel the hurt real soon. But as always there’s some sensible things everyone can do to save a few dollars over the summer.
First, slow down. I used to drive about 70 mph or a bit higher every time I got on the Texas roads. My little Hyundai, which has over 100,000 miles on it, would get about 22-23 miles per gallon. Now instead, I drive about 55 mph and have noticed I’m getting about 27-29 mpg. So on average I’m getting about five more miles out of every gallon of gas. While it may take me longer to get somewhere, the $300 or more I’ll save over the summer will be worth it.
Additionally, accelerating slower, keeping a steady speed and braking slower or easy will save even more that slowing down.
Plus, keeping a lighter load in your car (clean out the junk), keeping the tires properly inflated and the car tuned (oil changed regularly, air filter changed regularly) along with using the proper oil for you car can increase gas mileage a lot as well.
I know, especially in Texas, driving slow is a foreign concept. Truth is, people hardly ever need to drive fast, we just subconsciously think that the longer we are in our car the more gas we are burning, and so the quicker we get out the better we are.
Secondly, at home when you leave the house for work, or whatever, turn up the thermostat. I work evenings so when I leave my house around 2, I turn the thermostat from 76 degrees to 85. While it gets near 100 outside, the inside temp stays ok and when I get home at midnight, the evening air has kept the house comfortable. This saves hundreds in utility bills.
Also, cooking adds heat to the house, so I like to cook meals in early morning or late night. Then I just reheat the meals at lunch time, dinner time.
To save money outside the house shop better. When getting fast food, don’t upgrade to the large size. If you want the extra large drink, some places will sell the normal size meal with the larger drink, usually only about 10 cents more, as opposed to 50 cents to get more drink and fries. But also consider no drink at all, or no combo. Restaurants make a killing of drinks. Why? Because first, most people don’t pay attention to how much the drink costs, and they are pricey. But they can be, because no matter what food items sell, everyone gets a drink to go with them. When I worked at McDonald’s in the late 80s, my boss once told me that one of the drink tanks can serve over 100 normal size drinks, but is paid for with just one drink sell. That’s a ridiculous profit margin. And that’s McDonald’s. Sit down restaurants often chare over $2 for a drink (yeah they give free refills, but unless you get 30 refills, they still made money off that drink). Instead, consider water or buying your own drinks from grocery store to have handy with meal. Most places will give you a free cup of ice.
Next consider other items like cable and internet. Many people get an internet service and just go with it. But check to make sure you are getting the best deal. Webmail, expanding DSL providers, etc… has made the market very competitive and not a pain in the butt to switch providers. As for cable, assess what you really watch. Most cable/Dish providers have several tiers of service. But, especially with dish providers, they lure you into a higher package by highlighting some great channels on the other package. It sounds good…$10 more for 50 more channels. Only then you find, only 1 or 2 channels are really good, with 48 bad ones. And you hardly watch the 2 decent ones. Can you live without them? If so, save the extra few dollars a month. I studied my watching habits recently and found about 90 percent of what I watch is on the same channels. Lowering my level of service just effects one regular show that I can live without. So I cut the service down for an extra 13 dollars a month….which of course, means I can drive a bit faster
Texas hasn’t really suffered as much from the sagging economy as much of the nation has, but now that gas is up to $4 a gallon, Texans, who love to drive trucks, may feel the hurt real soon. But as always there’s some sensible things everyone can do to save a few dollars over the summer.
First, slow down. I used to drive about 70 mph or a bit higher every time I got on the Texas roads. My little Hyundai, which has over 100,000 miles on it, would get about 22-23 miles per gallon. Now instead, I drive about 55 mph and have noticed I’m getting about 27-29 mpg. So on average I’m getting about five more miles out of every gallon of gas. While it may take me longer to get somewhere, the $300 or more I’ll save over the summer will be worth it.
Plus, keeping a lighter load in your car (clean out the junk), keeping the tires properly inflated and the car tuned (oil changed regularly, air filter changed regularly) along with using the proper oil for you car can increase gas mileage a lot as well.
I know, especially in Texas, driving slow is a foreign concept. Truth is, people hardly ever need to drive fast, we just subconsciously think that the longer we are in our car the more gas we are burning, and so the quicker we get out the better we are.
Secondly, at home when you leave the house for work, or whatever, turn up the thermostat. I work evenings so when I leave my house around 2, I turn the thermostat from 76 degrees to 85. While it gets near 100 outside, the inside temp stays ok and when I get home at midnight, the evening air has kept the house comfortable. This saves hundreds in utility bills.
To save money outside the house shop better. When getting fast food, don’t upgrade to the large size. If you want the extra large drink, some places will sell the normal size meal with the larger drink, usually only about 10 cents more, as opposed to 50 cents to get more drink and fries. But also consider no drink at all, or no combo. Restaurants make a killing of drinks. Why? Because first, most people don’t pay attention to how much the drink costs, and they are pricey. But they can be, because no matter what food items sell, everyone gets a drink to go with them. When I worked at McDonald’s in the late 80s, my boss once told me that one of the drink tanks can serve over 100 normal size drinks, but is paid for with just one drink sell. That’s a ridiculous profit margin. And that’s McDonald’s. Sit down restaurants often chare over $2 for a drink (yeah they give free refills, but unless you get 30 refills, they still made money off that drink). Instead, consider water or buying your own drinks from grocery store to have handy with meal. Most places will give you a free cup of ice.
Next consider other items like cable and internet. Many people get an internet service and just go with it. But check to make sure you are getting the best deal. Webmail, expanding DSL providers, etc… has made the market very competitive and not a pain in the butt to switch providers. As for cable, assess what you really watch. Most cable/Dish providers have several tiers of service. But, especially with dish providers, they lure you into a higher package by highlighting some great channels on the other package. It sounds good…$10 more for 50 more channels. Only then you find, only 1 or 2 channels are really good, with 48 bad ones. And you hardly watch the 2 decent ones. Can you live without them? If so, save the extra few dollars a month. I studied my watching habits recently and found about 90 percent of what I watch is on the same channels. Lowering my level of service just effects one regular show that I can live without. So I cut the service down for an extra 13 dollars a month….which of course, means I can drive a bit faster
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