Tip 5: Plan your Trips better
Most people realize that it is a good idea to try to reduce the amount of gas that they use. Some do it because they want to save money while others do it for environmental reasons. Unfortunately most people aren't doing as much as they could, mainly because they seem to think that buying a fuel efficient vehicle is the end all and be all of saving fuel. There are in fact a number of other things that you can do to reduce the amount of fuel that you are using, one of the best is to reduce the amount of time you spend driving. With a little bit of planning most of us can substantially reduce the amount of time that we need to spend on the road.
It is really quite remarkable how many people will set out for their destination without being entirely sure how to get there. At best this results in not taking the most direct route to get there at worst it involves driving around in circles looking for your destination. It is almost a certainty that you will use more fuel than you need to if you drive this way. It is important to know where you are going and the most effective means of getting there before you set off, that will save you a lot of aggravation and a lot of fuel. A navigation device can be a huge help here if you use it properly.
According to The Green Cars Blog, it is also a good idea to plan your trips in a way that allows you to do all of your errands in one trip and in the most efficient order possible. Rather than making separate trips to the pick up the kids from school, do the grocery shopping and going to the dry cleaner it is almost always more fuel efficient to combine them into one trip. This is especially true if you can combine them in the proper order so that you don't have to back track while you are doing your errands. This will save you a lot of time in addition to saving you fuel so it is definitely something that you should think about doing.
If it is at all possible you should seriously consider trying to drive at times other than rush hour. While this may not be possible if you a required to be at work at the same time as everybody else it never hurts to ask. A lot of companies will allow you to come into work either earlier or later and then leave earlier or later in order to avoid rush hour traffic. Not only will this save you an enormous amount of time it will save you a lot of fuel. All that time you spend stuck in traffic not moving is burning fuel that isn't getting you anywhere. Anything you can do to limit the amount of time you spend in traffic is a good idea.