Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
Welcome to 31 Debt Free Missions! A new feature this year on Queen of Free, during each day in January, I will provide 31 concrete missions or challenges for you to take on to #SlayDebt and take charge of your finances this year. Each mission will take you less than an hour (some will only require 15 minutes). Whereas, 31 Days to Kick Debt in the Teeth (which I’m reworking this year and reposting in January, too) focused on some of the philosophical changes you need to make in order to be successful with money, 31 Debt Free Missions are action steps to put into place after you have your thinking straight. Even better, during the month of January, I’m revisiting each of these challenges in order to sharpen my money saving and debt slaying skills.
Are you ready? Your mission is as follows:
Day 20: Saving Money on Gasoline
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been feeling a ridiculous amount of relief at the pump lately. The gas prices have dropped to their lowest prices in years. Certainly, we all can breathe a little bit easier and our budgets might have a little margin. However, don’t get too comfortable. Eventually, those prices will go back up. Here are some principles to help you save when you fill up.
Set Your Budget High
When a set expense decreases, there’s a temptation to immediately reduce your budget and absorb those extra dollars. Hold off there sugar pop, you need to eat a big bowl of honey bunches of nope. Instead, base your budget on an average of last year’s gasoline expenditures. Then if/when you do come in under budget, you can put the difference toward paying off debt (or if you’re debt free a different savings goal.
Evaluate Your Grade
Just because a product is the most expensive, it doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for you. Everyone’s vehicular decisions are different; however, the majority of us don’t need a high grade of gasoline. If you’ve been placing the most expensive fuel into your car, it might be time to evaluate whether or not you really need to continue doing so.
Nix the Extras
Gasoline isn’t the only way you can overspend at the gas station. Car washes, giant sodas, pizza, doughnuts, candy, coffee, and more beckon your name. Focus your eyes on your primary purpose. This is definitely one area of spending that I would encourage people to use a debit card only. Pay at the pump and stay out of the store. If you can’t see it, you can’t want it.
Leverage Fuel Rewards
Lastly, there are a variety of stores that feature fuel rewards programs. While I’d never encourage you to shop at one particular place specifically for the rewards, I would suggest if you’re already shopping there and there’s a program in place to take advantage of it. On the top of my list would be the Kroger Fuel Points (holla for those gift card deals!), Meijer’s mPerks Pharmacy Rewards program, and Walmart’s $0.03 per gallon discount with Murphy USA when you buy a gift card.
I’d love to hear more money saving suggestions for gasoline in the comments. What programs do you love? What do you do to save? How are maximizing the extra dollars you might have in your budget right now?
Now that you’ve received your mission, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Also, if you want to be sure you don’t miss a single update in this series, go ahead and subscribe! Updates will come to your inbox everyday at 5 PM.
Miss the other missions?
Read:
- 31 Debt Free Missions: The Restaurant Challenge
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Adjust Your Withholdings
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Quit Using Credit
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Go to the Library
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Cutting Cable
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Ditch Your Memberships
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Reorganize Your Pantry
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Make 3 Phone Calls
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Bank Field Trip
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Make Your Laundry Detergent
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Unsubscribe Now
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Stop Your Money Leaks
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Regular Car Maintenance
- 31 Debt Free Missions: The Prescription Switch & Save
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Kill the Fees
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Change Your Car Insurance
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Organize the Game Closet
- 31 Debt Free Missions: (Re)Build Your Budget
- 31 Debt Free Missions: Save Money On Appliances
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
My husband and I use the app “Gas Buddy”, which will tell you the cost of gas at nearby gas stations. I won’t go out of my way to save a few cents, but generally, I can adjust my route so that I can get gas at the cheaper station. Combine that with fuel rewards and you save money! And, I guess that’s another tip-combine your errands into one day if you can. It will help you save gas so you aren’t driving all over town multiple times a week. 🙂
YES, both great tips! I can’t believe I forgot to mention batching your errands and Gas Buddy. I’ve used both. I need friends like you to keep my head on straight Keri. 🙂
We also buy gift cards to Home Depot from Giant Eagle to get fuel perks for remodeling projects that we are working on and are able to save on gas! Giant eagle has no max amount off per gallon and since you are allowed 30 gallons and our two cars only hold about half that amount, we bring 3 five gallon gas cans to get the full 30 gallons! Then we use it to fill our other car!
That is awesome!!! Way to save.
Love this! I already use the Kroger fuel points & just recently discovered the gift card bonus. As a single lady, my grocery budget is set at $100 a month so I don’t earn many points that way, BUT I work as a nanny & get most of their food at Kroger stores. This month I’ve been able to save .70 per gal. With our prices, I’m getting gas for a whopping $1! That hasn’t been possible since before I could drive!
I love marveling over how little I’m paying at the pump right now. $1/gallon is a late 1990s dream come true.
Check out this awesome blog to save more on gas.
Mrmoneymustache.com in the search type Hypermiling. This artical gives great ideas to drive better to get the most miles per gallon. He also suggests bicycling rather than driving.
That is a great site! I’ll have to check out his ideas.
I haven’t used it yet, but I did sign up for Shell Fuel Rewards. There’s a 25¢/gal sign-up bonus and you always receive 3¢/gal off at the pump. Hoping it works better than Kroger fuel points at a Shell station, I have bad luck – it never works, only at a Kroger gas station which is 15+ minutes away.
Let me know how it goes! I don’t ever shop at Kroger so that one doesn’t work for me. I’m kind of erratic about where I purchase gas, too but I might make my way to Shell if you feel like it’s worth it. 🙂