Hypermiling

The turmoil in the Middle East is causing the gas prices at the pump to climb before the traditional Summer months making filling your car's gas tank even more painful.

Gas is more than $4 per gallon here now (and on the West Coast I hear) so what are you supposed to do?

Cut back on spending is the first thing. Tightening that belt and eating less helps. Then there's hypermiling.

What is hypermiling? Well, it's a way to maximize fuel consumption when you drive. I started doing it on my own (not knowing what it was called then) when I was driving back and forth visiting upstate. I wasn't thrilled about having to constantly refill the gas tank on trips when my room mate would drive (it cut into travel time and finding a gas station is like finding a needle in a haystack at times) so when I took the wheel, I would let the car coast downhill and move forward on it's own keeping up with posted speed limits by just tapping the gas pedal when needed. I'm not one for speeding and so long as you give yourself enough time to travel, you won't need to speed. Drivers with a lead foot will change their behavior as well soon with gas prices expected to hit $5 come Summer.

Hypermiling isn't so feasible in the big city when you have to constantly stop at street lights but try it when you are on the open road and see how less often you'll be refilling that gas tank.