Tips for saving on Gas

As fuel prices are soaring around the world, and for those who can't live without their car, here are some useful tips I picked up from bankrate that I'd like to share with you on saving on Gasoline.

Car Maintenance - making sure that your car is in tip top shape will ensure your fuel consumption is optimized.

• Tire condition - wear, inflation, balance and alignment can all contribute to your fuel consumption efficiency.

• Tune up - follow your car's schedule for routine maintenance, new parts, fresh oil, right timing will contribute to fuel savings.

• Lose the weight - don't weight down your vehicle with the junk in its trunk. Remove all unnecessary stuff from your vehicle because your car will just burn more gas carrying the extra (unnecessary) weight.

Gas shopping - Knowing the when and what kind of gas to use will translate to big savings year round.

• Octane rating - what the Petron ad said is true, use the proper Octane rating of fuel needed by your car. This will make sure the fuel you loaded is compatible with your car's engine's needs.

• Don't top off the Gas - when you load a full tank, just ask the gas attendant to use the automatic stop. Filling your tank to the brim is just a waste because too much gas will just evaporate or spill out.

Driving habits - Developing good driving habits will lead you to savings with you thinking about it.

• Plan your trips - if you need to run errands, plan them well so don't have to go back and forth from one location to the other, saving gas on the miles you don't travel.

• Don't warm up too long - your car just needs a minute or 2 to warm up, any longer is just wasting fuel. Just make sure you don't accelerate too quickly, after a minute of warming up.

• Ease up on the accelerator - quick acceleration and engine revving is bad for your pocket, and so is driving too fast.

As we don't see the end of the rise in gasoline prices yet (forecast is at 90PHP to 100PHP per liter by year end), it might be a better idea to carpool or commute to get the most savings from gasoline expenses.

Once you've noted the savings from your fuel spending adjust your budget to spend less on gas and more on savings.

Any other tips to add? Share them in the comments! Thanks!