I wrote a post last week debating if I should ride my bike to work in order to save on the monthly gas budget. I received some good comments and feedback from some bloggers including That one Caveman and Scott who have had success riding theirs to work. In the end I have decided to continue to drive to work because of how dangerous the roads are in the area.
There is currently a contest going on over at How I Save Money.net, where LuLuGal is offering a chance to win a $10 gas card for writing a short post on how gas prices have affected people. In response to this contest, I wanted to review the 3 items that I posted in my Should I ride my bike to work? post from last week and add some additional goals to help meet the $200 monthly gas budget set for my family.
1. Hedge against gas prices - Last week I posted that I planned on reviewing an idea of purchasing shares of UGA (United States Gasoline Fund) suggested by Dividend Growth Investor to hedge against gas prices. I have not taken any action yet, but plan to in the next week. I was waiting for some funds to become available before I made any move in the market but still think that purchasing shares of UGA (United States Gasoline Fund) is a good way to hedge.
2. Cut back on non-essential driving - This is actually working out very well for us so far. My wife has cut way back on her extra driving and I can safely estimate that our June gas budget will come in under the $200 amount.
3. Take different route to work - I have started taking the different route to work which is knocking off about ~5 miles per day. While it is a small amount of miles, I can actually see some positive results!
4. Get a gas credit card (NEW ITEM) - This wasn’t on the post last week, but I have added this as a new item. I am currently investigating getting a gas credit card that pays 5% cash back on gas purchases. I currently use my credit card for all of our gas purchases and receive some rewards, but it doesn’t pay the 5% back. I would like to try and maximize the amount of cash back/rewards we can receive on our gas purchases.
As a side note – I found an article this morning where some gas stations no longer accept credit cards in an effort to save money. If this becomes widespread, I may need to revisit riding my bike to work again.
5. Hypermiling (NEW ITEM) – The terminology was new to me until recently, but I plan on practicing some of the tips posted in LuLuGal’s Hypermiling article. You should check it out!
I will continue to work with the list of (now) 5 items in an effort to handle rising gas prices. How are you dealing with gas prices?
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Nice writing style. I look forward to reading more in the future.
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Thanks for entering the contest and linking back (I’ve got your entries noted.)
It is a good thing you did this because it drew my attention to the bike riding article you wrote.
I can’t ride a bike…but I guess this summer would be a good time to learn.
Too bad about the gas stations not taking the credit cards any more. I hope this does not happen in my area because I get cash back for using the card to buy gas.
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I’m looking into the gas credit card too. My local store is offering $.10 off a gallon through Labor Day (my big driving months) and $.05 year around. If I only used it for gas and paid it off each month, of course, I think it would make a lot of sense. It works for the grocery store too, but I don’t want to get into that.
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I like the hedge idea, but think I could save even more if I just cut back on non-essential driving. It’s easy to drive to the local park, when we should be walking instead.
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