The Financial Freedom Forum


Protect Yourself From The High Costs of Gasoline

By JJ Childers
EWI Mastery Instructor and Attorney at Law

If you’ve ever read any of my columns or attended one of my bootcamps, there is one thing that you should already know about me: I love to save money. Of course, one of the most essential aspects of saving money is to identify the dangers to your wealth.

In my law practice I counsel our clients on protecting their wealth from the threats posed by lawsuits, excessive income taxes and estate taxes. Yet, in today’s economy, it seems like one of the greatest dangers to everyone’s pocketbook is the high cost of gasoline.

As you undoubtedly know, the price of gas is at an all-time high. To make matters worse, most economic experts predict that the price of gas could climb even higher by the end of the summer. As a result, many of my students and clients are scrambling for ways to keep their money from being burned up in their car or truck. For instance, take this letter I recently received:

Dear Mr. Childers,

This might be something that is outside of your area, but do you have any advice on how one can lessen the impact that the current price of gasoline has upon their budget? Because of the price of gas, my family and I have had to make some major sacrifices so that we can stay afloat until prices go down. I would hate to have to tell my kids that we can’t afford to take our annual summer vacation, but right now that looks like a real possibility. Can you help?

Jessica S. Dover, MD

Thanks for your letter, Jessica. Unfortunately, there is not a lot we can do about the price of gasoline, but luckily there are many things that we all can do to avoid pouring all our money into our gas tanks. No, I’m not talking about converting your car so that it can run on maple syrup or some other gas-alternative. Believe it or not, most of the things that one can do to avoid high gas prices are pretty simple and just take a little effort to get big results.

One of the first things everyone should do in order to fight the high cost of gasoline is to find out where gas is the cheapest in your immediate area. Obviously, driving a great distance simply for the purpose of buying cheaper gasoline will not make much sense.

There are a number of fast and easy ways to locate the best prices for gas close to home. Many GPS devices, even the GPS devices on smartphones, will have a tool for finding the best gas prices. Additionally, there are a number of Internet sites, such as www.gasprices.mapquest.com and www.gasbuddy.com, which can aid your search for the cheapest gas.

Another easy way to save money on your monthly gasoline bill is to make sure that your car or truck is operating at its peak performance. Periodic wheel alignments and keeping your tires property inflated can help your vehicle’s gas economy. Additionally, have your vehicle tuned up when needed and check your vehicle’s owner’s manual for service schedules.

Making sure that your vehicle does not have worn spark plugs, dragging breaks, low transmission fluid, or that it is not overdue for an oil change can help your miles per gallon as well.

In addition to the condition of your vehicle, how you drive it can also affect its gas mileage. Did your mother ever tell you to slow down so that you would save gas? Well, she was right. By driving at 55mph instead of 65mph you can save gasoline by 15%. Avoiding jackrabbit starts and stops will also save gas.

Also, avoid keeping your car in idle for long periods of time. I know that it is tempting to leave the motor of your vehicle on so that you can enjoy the radio and air conditioning when you are stuck in a long line at the drive-through, but when possible you should avoid doing so.

And finally, avoid keeping a lot of unnecessary items in your vehicle which add weight and hurts your gas mileage. With summer time upon us, those of us with kids always have baseball equipment, soccer gear, bicycles, and so forth in our cars, yet you should leave these items in the garage when they are not needed.

Believe it or not, our friends at the Internal Revenue Service are trying to help us all with gas prices when it comes to miles driven for business. The optional standard mileage rates that taxpayers can use to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008, an increase of 8 cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008.

This mileage rate increase usually doesn’t come until the end of the year, which makes this rate increase even better. As a result, all taxpayers should keep careful record of their business miles so they can take maximum advantage of this rate increase.

And finally, my best advice for how to save money on your gasoline bill is to not drive your car as much. Whenever possible, consider walking, bicycling, carpooling and public transportation as alternatives for driving your car. And, whenever you do drive, plan your trip thoughtfully. Try to take care of all your errands at one time rather than making multiple trips to and from home.

As you can hopefully see, taking steps to avoid the current high costs of gasoline prices is not as difficult as you might think. By no means are the ways listed in this article all-inclusive. Check the Internet, automobile clubs and consumer protection agencies for more ways to keep more money in your pocket and less in your gas tank. By taking advantage of these strategies, you may be able to afford that summer vacation after all.