Like most people, you might be hard-pressed to find a feasible way to take a vacation with your family. In addition to seeking options in affordable travel, many consumers are also working hard to lower their carbon footprints when spending time with their loved ones. If this sounds familiar, you are probably eager to find ways to save money on gas and keep your gas mileage high. Not only is it essential to have sufficient fuel for traversing your own locale, but families should also have an array of gas-saving strategies for taking long road trips without harming their budgets. Following are five tips that will help you to do far better at the pump when hitting the open road.
Balance The Weight In Your Car Properly
Strategic packing and passenger loading can go a long way towards improving your gas mileage. While big families often have the understandable habit of simply getting everyone and everything into the car before small kids grow fidgety and patience wears thin, keeping the weight balanced throughout the car is far better. When it comes to affordable travel, good packing and loading skills can make all the difference.
Crack Your Windows And Turn Off The AC
You don't need to have the AC blasting everywhere you go. Get your family conditioned to driving with the windows cracked. Although having ice cold air circulating throughout the car can be very comfortable, this is not the ideal way to prime your internal thermostat for adjusting to the environment that you are traveling into. Thus, relying on the breeze that comes through cracked windows is not only a great way to practice environmentally-efficient and affordable travel. It will also help everyone to prepare for the climate in the intended destination.
Get Your Tires Checked And Rotated Regularly
The condition and efficiency of your tires will go a long way in determining how many miles you are getting per gallon. Using the penny test is a great way to check your treads. Simply place a penny into your tire tread with Abraham Lincoln's pate pointing down. The tread should touch or cover the top portion of the president's head.
If your tires are worn, have them changed out. You can preserve these far longer by simply having them rotated. The company that installed your tires can give you reminders for having this done. Not only will this keep your mileage up and make affordable travel easy, but it will also give you far greater levels of on the road safety.
Pay With Cash
A number of service stations are offering consumers lower per gallon gas prices for simply opting to pay in cash. This eliminates the service fees that these businesses are charged by credit card companies. When paying with cash, however, you have to make sure that the clerk has noted this at the pump. Otherwise, you won't be getting the discount that your paper money has earned you.
Take Advantage Of Weekly Fluctuations In Gas Prices
Gas prices can rise and fall several times throughout the week. You are virtually guaranteed to pay more at the pump if opting to gas up right before the weekend or during your weekend of travel. This is because gas prices tend to go up on Thursday mornings, in anticipation of the weekend that lies ahead. Thus, one easy way to shave a few bucks off this expense is to gas up your travel vehicle no later than Wednesday afternoon.
How Do You Save?
There is no reason to spend a fortune just to fuel up your car on your vacation. You should reserve your funds for the moments that matter! How do you save money on your family road trips? Let us know some of your most-used tips in the comments section below!
Image Credits:
Pumping Gas by Future Atlas
In God We Trust by Below the Benthic
Blue Piggy Bank... by Ken Teegardin
