Everyday Money Saving Tips: Part 3

During the height of gas prices, I was concerned over the extra expense it might bring to our family's budget. So, I decided to figure out a way to not make this an extra expense for our family. My husband still had to drive to work, so he couldn't cut back on his gas expenses. And since I'm a work-at-home mom, that left it up to me to figure out how I could drive less.

Here are the Top 5 Ways I learned to save on gas expenses...

1. Consolidate trips. Simply put, make one trip to a particular area per week. Whether it be going to the store, dry cleaning, dropping off kids at school, or some other errand, find ways to make those trips by proximity. Try not to make extra trips! You might even find you're more productive in your time management.
   
   
2. Hit the grocery store(s) once per week. The down side: You may be forced to be more organized in your meal planning. The up side: You should spend less on groceries in the end!
   
   
3. Shop online. I found a trip across town to the mall or department store was too much gas, so I started looking online for items I needed to purchase for my family. I found sites such as ShopAtHome, Ebates, eBay, and Amazon were the best sources for inexpensive or cash back options.
   
   
4. Carpool. If you know another family involved in your children's sport or activity, see if you can carpool. The kids will love spending time with their friends and you'll be blessing another mom's gas budget and time!
   
   
5. Stay home. You'd be surprised how much you save just by not allowing yourself to go out. Your house might even get cleaned on a regular basis!

Our Plan:

We set our budget to include a fill-up of my vehicle every 2 weeks. That meant that I had to think ahead and plan ahead for trips to the store, etc. My gas gauge became my gas budget. It was easy to figure out how much driving I was "allowed" each week, for example if I was above half-full by the end of one week, that meant I didn't have to be quite as tight the next week. If I went over, I knew I'd have to cut or consolidate my trips for Week 2.

We've been living this way ever since and on weeks that I don't use it all, we save the additional money for travel expenses on vacation.

• Everyday Money Saving Tips: Part 1 (Television)
  
• Everyday Money Saving Tips: Part 2 (At Home Haircuts)