With the price of gasoline at an all time high and with prices continuing to increase at gas stations nearly daily, planning driving trips is becoming more necessary than ever. Add in the effects that carbon emmissions have on our planet and it makes using our driving miles wisely essential.
I admit I used to be a person who would hop into my car and drive into my nearby town (I live in a rural area) to pick up a gallon of milk in the morning; then realize at noon I was out of flour and drive into town again; then make a third trip into the in the middle of the afternoon to pick my kids up from school even though the school bus was perfectly capable of bringing them home and drove right by our house anyway. Even when my children got older and I worked full-time I often drove into town a couple times at night rather than running my errands on my way to work or on my way home from work. Yeah, I wasted lots of gas.
Now I plan my trips and it’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I bought a magnetic backed pad of Post It notepaper that hangs on our refrigerator door. Anything that we run out of or decide we need up goes on that list.
I no longer work on Fridays because it’s my day to take my Mom to dialysis and pick her up. I drop her off, run all my errands, and then pick her up. If I can’t get it all done during that time, I either wait until the following week or ask my husband to pick up what I need on his way home from work. Or, I do it on the one night a week I have a class.
My vehicle no longer leaves the driveway several times a day, plus I now work at home.
As a result, I’ve cut my gasoline consumption by more than 50%.
The upside is that I can get more done in my day because I’m not wasting time running into town for every little thing I need. Plus I’ve learned how to substitute ingredients without the disasterous results I thought I would get. Sometimes things turn out even better than the original.
To cut down on your gas consumption and hopefully make a little more time in your life for other things:
- make a list
- have a set shopping day
- cluster doctor, dental and hair appointments or schedule them so you go before work, after work, or when you can also run your errands for the week.
- pre-shop online so you aren’t running from store to store to find something
- shop online, especially for items that you cannot buy locally (with the exception of large items that would be very expensive to ship and that you want to check out in person like sofas and mattresses), plus you don’t have to worry about whether or not a store is open.
- bike or walk if you can. For example, if the store is only a mile or two away and all you really need is milk, walk or grab a backpack and take your bicycle. Then you’ll also get a great workout.
- carpool
- ride the bus
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