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Home > Smart Spending > Archives > 2008 > September > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHow To Fool The Fueling-Up System
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember when we used to gripe about gas prices? Lately, the only numbers we’ve noticed at the pump are the ones rolling up gallon after gallon as they replenish our tank. North of four bucks per? Who cares?
When (if?) normalcy returns, we’ll start paying attention again to those digits after the dollar sign. I stumbled across some tips on how to buy smartly, many of which are old hat to me. A few fresh ones are shared here:
*Wednesday mornings is the optimum time to fill ‘er up. Prices tend to rise as the weekend approaches, then settle down by mid-week.
*Stations adjust their prices in the morning, often around 10 o’clock.
*Some stations jack up their prices more steeply than others. Scout out the ones whose bumps are least painful.
*Stations at exit ramps off highways often charge more than the norm because they can lure long-distance travelers.
Now, one continuous theme you’ll find in this blog is how to make frugality fun. I like to monitor price per gallon at stations in my ‘hood or along my normal routes. Rather than cast my loyalty with one, I turn into the lowest-priced place.
I also track the wildly shifting price of a barrel of oil on the open market. If it’s dipped significantly, I will patiently wait to fill my tank because the retail cost of fuel will trend downward. Should it escalate, I’ll either put in the max pronto or, if I feel like gambling, quench my tank’s thirst only when necessary with a sip here and there until it declines again.
Besides saving pocket change, the strategy also provides the satisfaction that you are beating the system. And, leaves you enough left over to buy a Big Gulp.
Do you have any suggestions for getting the best bang out of your oil buck? What is your threshold on the price of a gallon? At what figure do you say, “This is too much?” And, have you dropped from, say, mid-grade to regular, like I have for my Audi? Any problems result?
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Comments
By SexyCool
September 29, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
i had my S.O., an army vet, take my baby suv (explorer sport) onto fort mcpherson this weekend to fill the tank…short lines and only $3.95 a gallon…
and i know that it’s all about attitude…but if you’re smart in today’s economy, frugality is now a necessity…
By penny saved
September 29, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this
Frugality should always have been a necessity. You can have splurges sometimes, but our society has become one splurge after another. We all feel like we have to have things right away (I’m including myself) and that’s how credit card and consumer debt increases and people get mortgages for houses they cannot afford.
We need to learn to save and not spend and that will be a painful lesson until we get ourselves out of this mess.
By X
September 29, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this
I am lucky and I work from home. I have been picking up 5 gallons or so the last week and a half just in case.
I belong to a wholesale club and I’ve been able to get it there.
It’s all about smart spending. So many people buy things when they NEED to and get raked over the coals instead of when the SEE it on sale!
I scour the Sunday papers every week to see deals. Go to Kroger on days I know they mark down meat and produce that is about to expire and pick it up. All these things I do saves me a boatload to spend on things I’d rather have or rather be doing. My friends say I rival Clark Howard!
By Pinchin Abe
September 29, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this
I try to cut costs as much as possible, but with a husband who babies our cars, it’s difficult. I try to use the middle grade as much as possible (he swears the cars will be damaged with anything other than premium), but get busted every once in a while.
Thanks for the tips — looking forward to this blog! I agree, as Americans we should have been living more frugally, and now it’s hit the fan. Fortunately, I’m a child of Depression era parents, so I can do it as long as I push aside my 1980’s mentality of “the one who dies with the most toys wins”
By go falcons
September 29, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this
I also want to say thank you for the tips and I look forward to learning more frugal ways to do things in the future.
By MayaShea
September 29, 2008 3:11 PM | Link to this
I drive a manual transmission and will coast as much as humanly possible as well as shifting gently between 2000 & 2500 RPM even though the Fast in me REALLY wants to see how quickly I can get from 1st to 5th, I take it easy and so far I’m getting 32MPG city driving.
But honestly, if it gets any harder to find a gas station when I near empty, i’ll just start biking, which i probably should be doing anyway, just got lazy.
By ACS
September 29, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
Right now I would gladly pay $5 a gallon if I didn’t have to waite in an hour long line only to find the pump empty before I actually get to the pump.
Why are you writing about saving money on gas when we can’t even find gas inside the city limits?
By Mek Hanick
September 29, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this
You’re husband is an idiot. Premium is a scam for 99% of cars. Put it this way: If your vehicle doesn’t genuinely need it (and if you have ask what “forced induction” is, then you prove you don’t require it), then it won’t help it.
By Gerald
September 29, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this
People need to learn how to entertain themselves at home! I park my car in the garage on Fri. evening after work, and it doesn’t move till Mon. morning! How’s THAT for going green! I have a huge yard and gardens to take care of. I have Rhapsody for my music, instruments I love to play, books to read out in the hot tub. and…this time of year - plenty of football to watch! Forget all that “glitter” on the front page of AJC trying to get you to go out and spend money here and there!
By Jeffishangingout
September 29, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this
I’ve taken up the habit of filling up between 3 and 5 in the morning. Its sort of like a break in the middle of the night. No lines at that time (since demand is almost non existant), but I’ll rearrange my schedule for mid week pit stops.
By Katie
September 29, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this
I combine all trips now. If the kids need a project supplies on the way home from school we make our stops, before picking them up at the bus stop. I hit the publix across the street. On the weekends when my teenagers need to go to the movies or mall I sit in bookstore next door with a cup of coffee and wait for the movie/mall shopping to get done. I told the kids that other than Church on Sundays they will be home. Which has been a good thing as we end up spending time doing BBQ and watching the football games or movies on TV.
By NY Transplant
September 29, 2008 5:06 PM | Link to this
ditto what gerald said! there are plenty of “green” and frugal ways to enjoy yourself and save both money and gas. find the simple things in life right under your nose at home and hearth!
By Jygy
September 29, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this
txt ATLGAS to 695949 for free mobile updates about available gas!
By Mike D
September 29, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this
I work from home and drive a Suburban, so pretty much daily I go out while everyone else is in their office. I don’t have much of a wait and I can get my 2-3 gallons in to keep the tank topped off.
By ahhahah
September 29, 2008 7:15 PM | Link to this
This is so you southerners can stay home and read your bibles vote with reactionaries.
This is what a literature professor would refer to as poetic justice.
By w00die
September 29, 2008 8:31 PM | Link to this
There are ways to save big money. Sell the SUV and buy a small car. Stop driving when you don’t have to. If people just did that they would save an enormous amount of money. But here’s the issue. These people don’t care. So giving them advise is like talking to a brick wall. Common sense does not affect certain people. It’s a density issue. It’s like telling a criminal not to steal. You can’t just talk him out of it. He has to believe it. So the dense will always do what they do.
By RedNek
September 29, 2008 9:17 PM | Link to this
Maybe I’ll stay home and study my grammar and usage books to try to decide if what ahhahah typed is English.
By Kevin
September 30, 2008 7:59 AM | Link to this
We Southerners, as you so bitterly remark, at least know what the BIBLE is and what it stands for and that GOD’s name means MORE to some of us than a reason to curse or swear.
By michelle
September 30, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
MIKE D:
you should be ashamed of yourself!! you work from home but are still going out everyday to top your tank off??
PEOPLE, QUOTE THIS: MIKE D ACTUALLY THINKS THIS IS HELPING!!!
By Pete
September 30, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this
w00die, you are an idiot. (I bet you even voted for that a*******hole Purdue, huh?) Sell the SUV? Yeah, I would love to see someone go and try to trade or sell an SUV right now. Just how much would you get for it? And then go and buy the smaller car you are mentioning and start a brand new car payment in this great economy? Great idea, dude! Think before you post.
You also say stop driving when you don’t have to? OK, then maybe we all should just drive back and forth to work and then come home and leave the car in the garage every night and weekend and just sit in our parents basement just like you do because we do not have a life. You are a moron!
By Calexfo
September 30, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this
Information you should know.
By Calexfo
September 30, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this
Information everyone should know.
By frugle my a*
September 30, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this
You guys are all chumps.be like me.get a moped, and its all godd.weheee
By frugle my a*
September 30, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this
You guys are all chumps.be like me.get a moped, and its all good.weheee
By frugle my a*
September 30, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this
You guys are all chumps.be like me.get a moped, and its all good.weheee
By Dawn
September 30, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this
I grew up in Atlanta during my childhood years. I was stunned to hear about the gas shortages. I understand how it’s affecting your financies and transportation. The bright side is you can ride public transportation (MARTA trains and buses) for less. It’s good for your budgets and enivornment. I feel that the gas shortages should teach you a lesson to appericate what Georgia offers you, such as MARTA or teleworking. Riding MARTA troain or bus is better than driving around miles to find available gas.
By Jim K.
September 30, 2008 3:03 PM | Link to this
On those days where you get a sip here and get a sip there you are a big part of the problem we’re seeing at the pumps. Your topping off merely serves to exacerbate the problem that exists. I would urge you to wait until you have a quarter of a tank and then go buy gas.
By D Right One
September 30, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this
I would take MARTA, but I live in Gwinnett. We Gwinnettians think MARTA will bring in too much riff-raff, so we voted down extending the train line. Now with gas supplies so low, I bet the referendum to bring in MARTA will pass.
By Leney
September 30, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this
MARTA isn’t completely the answer, either. Some residents may have to walk miles to the nearest station, and doing so, alone, at nighttime (which I’ve done), isn’t safe or convenient. It’s great that Atlanta’s making the effort, but a system like MARTA was long overdue. In many ways, we’re still behind on public transport.
By Terry
September 30, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this
I have a method to find gas in your area that is detailed in my blog. It is better than driving around looking. It works for me and my family.
www.mrterrycreditcardhelp.blogspot.com
There are also some tips if you have to plan a trip, as well as driving tips to conserve gas. Look through the archives near the bottom, listed by month.
By CJ
September 30, 2008 8:04 PM | Link to this
To D Right One —
MARTA does not bring in the riff-raff. If the riff-raff wants to come to Gwinett they will come in cars.
By Allen
September 30, 2008 8:08 PM | Link to this
Try to keep the vehicles tank at least 1/4 full. The electric fuel pumps in todays cars are usually in the fuel tank itself where they rely on contact with fuel for cooling and a degree of lubrication. To starve the pump for fuel by allowing the tank to become dry is very hard on the pump’s electric motor and moving parts. It may even cause a marginal pump to fail altogether. Take it from someone who has replaced lots of these pumps, the repair bill is not cheap. Also, if your car has an inline fuel filter, you should replace it according to manufacturer’s recommendations, a restricted filter can be fatal to the fuel pump and may affect fuel economy adversely. Keeping tires properly inflated also contributes to fuel economy.
By Mike
October 1, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
When the history of this “episode” is written, they will discover that Atlanta drivers actually drove fewer miles and — therefore — used LESS fuel during the period.
How anyone can believe that topping off is somehow creating shortages defies logic.
I guess it’s Georgia public school math.
By mr. ckeapskatin'
October 4, 2008 4:17 PM | Link to this
Good comments, all. Now that gas is more plentiful, file away our tips and pull them out when the shortage inevitably happens again.
I’ve heard, too, that always keeping your tank low can do harm to your vehicle. Guess I’m a show-me person. I’ll try to break the habit, but it won’t be easy for me.
I was in south Georgia during the week — in a rental car, because I couldn’t find gas in my ‘hood — and brought along a 2 1/2-gallon gas can to fill up in Macon on the way home. I’ve learned how valuable a gas can is. And how grateful that my rental car company refilled the tank for me — at a bargain $3.84 per gallon. So, next time you get caught without gas, think rental car.