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2014 Monthly Gas Spending Challenge

7K views 79 replies 20 participants last post by  gaja 
#1 ·
Since I started on my grocery and clothes spending challenges, I've noticed my car usage has gone down. I want to challenge myself to spend less than $100 a month on gas. I haven't filled up in nearly two weeks but I'm planning a trip to Orlando this month and that'll use a half of a tank.

......so beginning NOW, my goal is to spend less than $100 a month on gas. Anyone want to set a goal and join me?
 
#4 ·
Great idea and I will join later since I will be driving a lot in the next few months. Good luck everyone!
 
#10 ·
We usually spend around $50 a month on gas. My hubby is a diehart biker and bikes to work all year round. This means in the -57 with the windchill in the prairies.
And to think I was impressed with my dh for biking in our -15 windchill weather! LOL He bikes to work year round as well UNLESS there's too much snow and ice and then he walks. What can I say? He is awesome!

I walk most places I go as well so my goal is $50 for the month. Unless we have something unforeseen, this should be doable. We have spent about $29 to top the tank so far.
 
#11 ·
Gas Usage challenge..I already know my gas usage will be way up this month due to vacation. But I have been very careful with usage. If I am not spending shopping I am using less gas. (grin) Except for vacation week my goal is to keep it under $50. a week. for month of Feb.
 
#12 ·
I'm in. I am trying to keep it under $80 a month. I have been wanting to start keeping track and cutting back so this is a perfect challenge for me. I have not added any gas yet this month and started with 1/2 tank. I will add some tomorrow as it is creeping under 1/2 and with our cold temps, I do NOT let the tank drop much below that. Will record what I add tomorrow.

Thanks for the challenge Kim! :)
 
#13 ·
We're having rainy weather so I'm not tempted to go to Orlando this weekend. My tank is between 3/4 and 1/2 and I always fill it when it hits 1/2 so I'll probably do it this weekend. If I held out until Tuesday, that would be 3 WEEKS!!!! The best thing this challenge did for me was stop me from running to the store to pick up one or two items or forgetting to stop by the credit union when I'm on campus. I've always been a good time manager but these challenges made me even better.
 
#15 ·
Right now my husband and I are spending about $100 a week on gas. I would like to lower that number to $60. We do a lot of driving back and forth due our business and our daughter's school being in another city. In order to save gas, we try to do all of our shopping while we are in town picking up our daughter, so it is all done in one trip. We also try to ride together, so we are not using both cars. It's difficult sometimes because our schedules do not always work together.
 
#16 ·
As of now, my gas hungry motor vehicle intakes almost $50 a week to fill up at around $3.20-$3.30 a gallon here. I fill up once a week due to four to-and-from trips to my currect job in Oviedo, FL which is almost 30 miles from my home in Deltona, FL. My goal is to spend no more than $175 for the month of March 2014, and to limit my other running around that eats up the extra miles after minusing the 240 miles I need to get to and from work every week. Seeing as my car gets 350 miles to the tank, I could save around 50 miles a week and keep them to use for work instead of stupid trips to the store or to eat.
 
#17 ·
I will need to fill up soon. Too had I don't have a valid reason to go to the other side - gas is so much cheaper at Costco. Shall have to bite the bullet on this side - think it's back up to $4.25/gal
 
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#18 ·
This challenge is becoming a almost like a game for me....a game I want to WIN against the gas pump. I haven't filled up in so long I can't remember if it's three or four weeks but I'm still not down to 1/2 tank. I have two trips to campus this week but they will be combined with other stops for a total of only about 40 miles.
 
#19 ·
We usually spend $100 a week in gas between both vehicles. We are setting a goal of $60 a week first to see if we can accomplish that. We are cutting down on extra trips to the stores, and that kind of wasting of gas. We now make a plan for our trip and do not go to one store one day and another the next, we are doing all of our shopping in one day and planning our route for this. So far last week we were down to $75 but that is because we had a few extra trips to the doctors which were necessary but we still did have a few wasted trips to the store. We are also making up a dinner menu, so someone knows what to take out of the freezer, so we are not going out to eat as much because the food was still frozen so that should save us on trips to different restaurants.
 
#20 ·
We are currently a 1 car family. I work in the same town we live in but my husband works about 26 miles away from home. We put about $60 a week in the van in order to deal with his travels. We are looking for a 2nd vehicle so that on those chances of a sick child at school, he doesn't have an extra 50 mile round trip in the middle of the day. Gas is one of those necessary evils, we can't do with out it and have it shaved down to mostly driving to and from work. So our budget would still need to stay around $60 a week, even when we get the second car.
 
#21 ·
Between me and my Boyfriend we do a lot of driving to work and driving for groceries. We spend about $440 a month in gas. He spends about $60 a week for one job and at a minimum $20 for other job. I spend roughly $30 a week for work (now, before it was more like $50). Although, he gets reimbursed SOME of his gas. So, say they reimburse 50% of his gas this month, we'll only be spending about $320 on gas.

So I want to try to keep a budget of at most $330 a month for this year (unless we hopefully get some better jobs =) )
 
#24 ·
I feel rather crazy, and not at all frugal. I have been waiting for the prices on used EVs to drop, and today it happened. My target price was 25 000 on a Nissan Leaf, and I got it for 24K. Had been planning to save a bit more before buying, but every month I keep on driving the fossil car, I loose $300 in gas expences. Had to finance it, so the monthly budget is as follows:

Free fuel: $300
Increased compensation on job travels, free ferries, toll roads and parking: $50
Increased costs of having a second car (insurance, road tax..): -$150
Total saved per month: $200

That will take care of the value loss, so we hopefully get a total zero balance.

If we get rid of the fossil fueled car, that will save us an additional $100/month on insurance and taxes. Also, the EV's maintanance costs are lower than the fossil car, both because it is newer, and because there are less mechanical parts that might break. I'm exited and terrified at the same time - really wasn't planning to get more debt. But I think this was the best decition to make.
 
#25 ·
Today is a driving day and I won't get far if I don't refill before going anywhere. It will be around $60.
 
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