Save Money on Gas by Tracking Your Mileage
Tip It!About two months ago, I wrote an article detailing my progress in improving my gas mileage. By making a few small adjustments to my driving style, I was able to improve my mileage by 15%. Today, I wanted to share a more general tip for saving money on gas: track your mileage mileage.
If you’re at all competitive or motivated by numbers, then I can virtually guarantee you that your mileage will improve, and thus you’ll save money, if you simply keep track your mileage at every fill up. Not only does this make you more cognizant of your driving habits, but it helps make a game out of improving your gas mileage.
The old school way of doing this is to simply keep a small notepad or ledger in the glove compartment and then record your miles driven and amount of gas purchased at each fill up. But guess what? If you have a web-enabled smartphone, it’s even easier. You can now track your mileage online using a web-based service.
The two such services that I’ve heard the most about are FuelFrog and Fuelly. Both of these sites allow you to update your information on the go. FuelFrog relies on Twitter, whereas Fuelly has a mobile version of their website.
After looking at the two, I’ve decided to create an account with Fuelly. To me, the mobile web interface is a more elegant solution than Twitter, and I also like that fact that I can easily compare my performance against that of other users.
Published on August 22nd, 2008 - 8 Comments
Filed under: Automotive, Energy
About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!
Related articles...
» Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage?» Best High Mileage Cars
» Accuracy of EPA Gas Mileage Estimates
» Improve Your Gas Mileage by Slowing Down
» Real-World Gas Mileage for a Honda CR-V
» Weekly Roundup – Pneumonia Edition
» How to Improve Your Gas Mileage (and How Not To)
» More Gas Saving Tips
Was this article useful? Please sign up to receive our content via e-mail:
8 Responses to “Save Money on Gas by Tracking Your Mileage”
Leave a Reply
Top Cards by Category
Earn $200 Bonus Cash Back after you make $500 in purchases in your first 3 months. 5% Cash Back on up to $1,500 spent in bonus categories each quarter.
Receive 10,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $500 in your first three months of card membership. Redeem bonus points for gift cards valued at $100. This is a charge card with no pre-set spending limit.
Receive 10,000 Membership Rewards bonus points when you spend $500 in your first three months of card membership. Redeem bonus points for gift cards valued at $100. This is a charge card with no pre-set spending limit.
Enjoy a 0% introductory rate for 18 months on Balance Transfers and 6 months on Purchases. Earn up to 5% cash back in categories that change.
Enjoy no balance transfer fee for a limited time. 0% introductory rate on Balance Transfers and Purchases. Earn up to 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*
Enjoy no balance transfer fee for a limited time. 0% introductory rate on Balance Transfers and Purchases. Earn up to 5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*
Enjoy amenities for you and your business, like: complimentary airport club access, including American Airlines Admirals Club(R) lounges.
5% Cashback Bonus in categories that change like gas, restaurants, department stores and more. Limitations apply*. Up to 1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on everything else. No annual fee
Earn 3X points on airfare, 2X points on gas and groceries, and 1X points on everything else.
Reports to 3 major credit bureaus monthly and acceptance at millions of locations worldwide, including website purchases and reservations.
- How to Become a Millionaire
- How to Get Out of Debt
- The Best Dollars I've Ever Spent
- How Our Estate Plan is Structured
- How We Paid Our Mortgage In Less than 10 Years
- Money Making Ideas
- How to Manage Your Asset Allocation with Multiple Accounts
- Consumption Smoothing - Save While the Saving's Good
- How to Save on Groceries
- How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
- Eleven Great Books About Money
- Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math
- Dish Network Customer Service SUCKS
- $8,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Pay Off Mortgage Early or Invest?
- How to Claim the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Reduced Credit Limits? Share Your Experience
- $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit
- Ethanol Blended Gas = Lower Mileage?
- Termite Control: Sentricon vs. Termidor
- How Much Should You Pay a Babysitter?
- Federal Income Tax Rates Went Down but Your Federal Tax Withholding Increased. Here's Why...
- Would the "Fair Tax" Gut the Economy?
How to save money on insurance
- Double-Check Your Ally CDs
- Stocks are Not Bonds, CDs, or Savings Accounts
- The Best Values in Colleges - 2012 Edition
- Five Myths About Renter's Insurance
- Own Your Investments, Rent Your Fun
- Citibank to Issue Credit Cards in China
- Heartstrings and Pursestrings
- Saving Money at the Grocery Store: Store Brand Pricing on the Rise
- Missing Tax Paperwork?
- Is Your Investment Allocation Right?
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 am
I find tracking anything is key to success.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
i started doing this last year (maybe even before that?) and am pleased with the improvement in gas mileage i’ve been able to accomplish. My driving habits have definitely come back down to earth and I am happy with the fact that my old Saturn now can get around 35-38mpg on average for every tank I fill up. This is a great piece of advice and I would recommend this to all drivers.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
Fuelly looks interesting. It would be nice if the portable GPS units had an interface that would allow you to enter gas usage data so that it could track mileage not only overall but on individual trips and trip legs.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 am
I found FuelFrog first, and it is supposed to get comparisons to others similar to fuelly but doesn’t yet.
RIght now, I’m recording in both, but I don’t do it mobile, I wait ’til I record the expense in my accounting program.
Averaging about 42-43 mpg right now.
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I’m using Excel to track my mileage for 5 years now. In the past I was more of a racer, but now I tend to drive on the highway in the 90-100 km range using the cruise control …
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
I am a number cruncher but I don’t crunch my gas mileage. My wife and I bike as much as possible to save on gas.
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Tracking IS always key. Since paying attention to gas mileage I was able to increase it by 3mpg just by laying off the pedal a little. Another great thing to do is keep your car in good working order. Fill your tires, clean the air filter and remove excess weight you may be carrying in the trunk(not your tire, leave that in).
September 25th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Thanks for the money saving tip. A firend just turned me on to driving under 2 1/2 MPR’s at all times. It makes driving less stressful and puts a few extra dollars back in my wallet whenever I fill up.