What are you doing to offset gas prices?

[CraZx2ing]

Just curious what everyone is doing to offset gas prices or what they will do if they get to a certain point.

My biggest two:
1. I changed the way I drive my Jeep Rubicon. I now drive like a granny, stay under 50mph as much as possible (no interstate driving for me) and shift 2-4-6. This upped my MPGs from 10 to 16.

2. I live in FL and A/C is obviously a must. The good thing is, my house is VERY airy and breezes blow right through. Because of this, I have not turned my A/C (central) on yet. If I do, it will up my electric bill from about $70/mo to about $250/mo. The wife and I talked it over and decided that there is no point in using the A/C to cool the entire house when we are really only in our bedroom most of the time. We don't watch much TV and almost never entertain do to my house being constantly in the process of being remodeled. The house is a 3/2 1700 sq ft. My little brother stays in the back bedroom for free. We figure if he is not paying the rent, he can suffer with no A/C. IF there is an event that takes place at my house it’s only a button to press and the house will start to cool off for that day or two.

Summer being on its way the wife and I know we can’t go without A/C in the bedroom when we are in there. I called my Mom ask how much a window unit costs. She told me that my other brother up north just installed central in his house and he had a new window unit he’d give me for free. Mom was on her way down here for a couple weeks so she boxed it up and brought it down on the air plane as part of her luggage. I just had to pay the $25 over weight fee. The unit will fit perfectly in my bedroom window and will keep the room cool for when we need it. I do not expect my bill to go up much as we will only use it when we are in the room. It looks like using this unit instead of firing up the A/C will save about $150 a month from June to October.

The next step for me will be to buy a Scooter for around town and to/from work driving. I estimate about another $100/mo savings by only driving my Jeep when I need to.



What sort of changes are you making to your life?

[zxtwou2]

not a whole lot...it's costing me something like 50 bucks more a month...not really a bank breaker.

[jdrzx2]

Masterbaiting to free online pron really cuts down the cost on picking up hookers.

[CraZx2ing]

True. I haven't really figured out how much exactly I spend on gas, but I know between gas and food, my usual bills have doubled. Not a bank breaker for me either, but I'm looking to save as much as possible on wasteful stuff like gas and electricity. Who knows, maybe i'm helping the environment while helping my wallet too. I've also started to be cognizant of various ads and fliers for grocery stores so as to not just throw money away. All in all, I should be saving around $200/mo or more just by making small changes that are not inconvenient to me. Every penny counts!

[gunman_sr5]

I am buying a house 10 miles closer to work. I am also selling the house my Dad left me when he passed away. On top of doing a few mods to my car for mileage, and not driving like an idiot. Next step is to cut my wifes foot off so she quits hot rodding the Explorer. Also getting a new schedule at work that cuts a day of driving out, but also causes my pay to go up.

[ZX2R]

Leaving my stock ECU instead of the NGP0 and Bluechip. Driving less in general.

[JonsZX2SR]

Slow down to 62-68 mph on the highway, accelerate slower, drive the '97 'scort LX more, ride my bicycle to the store.

The g/f's solution is to drive her Chevy HHR less and try to get me to drive instead. Sunday I thought it was a great idea that we should ride our bicycles to the local shopping area instead.

After giving me a scowl and dirty look, she actually agreed...

[tachman6500]

i drive like a grandma and still get 12 mpg in my suburban

[slammmed]

im going through about a tank a month in my truck. - 22gallons. working 4 miles from work and only driving when I need to helps alot.

I am also looking into buying an electric golf cart as well as putting an electric motor on my bike. the golf cart is great because 90% of what we do is withing 1 -2 miles of the house. The golf cart allows us to go to the grocery store, in-laws, beach, shopping, etc... at a fraction of wear and tear costs + gas costs.

The electric motor for my bike will allow me to go to work on summer days without really breaking a sweat. I can still pedal but the motor will help me on the hill over the interstate.

[af3ll]

Nothing.

[TheGhostInTheMachine]

Leaving my stock ECU instead of the NGP0 and Bluechip.

Bad decision. The NGP0 is the best gas mileage ECU out there.

[RedRooster]

Plannin on rising up againest the govt and oil companies for the hell of it.:dance:

[JohnP]

Use the wifes Prius , 46-48mpg in the city , 50-52mpg @ 70mph on the hywy .

[TSmiley98]

UNG, ninja 250's FTMFW

[capitalcrew]

Getting a katana 600. Should be better than the zx2 for sure. As for in the Z, I stopped driving places I didn't need to. I don't speed at all, take off slow usually. Things like that. no more rice ramming around for me.

[inis]

truthfully nothing.

I work for a company that provides me a vehicle and pays for gas 100% . I take the vehicle home. I dont drive anymore then I need to on there time, but they send me everywhere so theres no getting around it.

As far as my car at home, I drive less then a 100 miles a month on my own personal vehicle. Matter of fact I have "vacational" insurance on it thats limited to 8500 miles a year, last year I did almost a full 1k .

[99fordzx2]

i stopped driving like a jerk in the Z too, and pull off slowly as well. The mpg's ive gotten were like 26. But I may have a bad O2 sensor too. Need to replace that soon. Ive also stopped driving were I dont need to go, and I try to plan out my trips so that if there are mulltiple stops I hit them all in a fuel effecient way.


-D

[Connal]

Every few days swap from my cwq3 to my nlx0. Rear is gutted, sub, spare, and all that fun stuff is in the basement. Shift at a lower RPM. I can't complain though. I'm getting just shy of 400 to the tank.

[yellow2000S/R]

Lost 19 lbs... now the Tracker doesnt have to "haul as much ass". HAHA

Cleaning the EGR valve tomorrow... have had a CEL on for the past 9 months. Replaced it a year ago, after 3 monts CEL came on. Cleaned it after that and it came on a week later so I doubt cleaning it again will do anything.

I dont feel like spending $130 or whatever on another one tho just to pass inspection. No warranty FTL.

[ChillinZX]

I cut down on parties/bars. Havn't been to one in 2 months now. But this saturday will break my sober streak, how could I refuse a 20 story rooftop party in downtown (southloop) Chicago with all liqour paid for, hot female DJ's mixing live, a wife who has to work the evening shift, and a babysitter willing to watch my kid for free? It's an act of god that I go.

[ImCrazy]

i ride a jackass to work.

[2TonCat]

Parked the supercharged car and bought the S/R. I'm driving 55-60 on the highway, and am getting 30-35mpg.

Called the insurance company and saved $60.

I tune friends' cars and they buy me food.

I'd like to start a 4 10's work week, but MGMT has different ideas.

[Hypnose Zx2]

shaved my head

[PHeller]

Buying a diesel car, selling a diesel car at a profit, buying a motorcycle.

[TomStratRT]

I've already cancelled one trip for this weekend. Well, for 2 reasons actually. One being the extreme heat and the other being the gas that would be burned on a 120 mile trip.

This sucks...I used to make it to the car shows every year, now I don't want to spend the gas money to get there.

[SoCalZX2]

Living on a budget and paying off my debt. The Z was just paid off and thats an extra 187/mo thats now not going out of my pocket (well it is, just a sig loan and my wifes escape left) or can be budgeted towards gas if required.

[Shadowen925]

I'm putting an HHO Cell in my car in like the next week or too. That will up my MPG by about %30-%40.
Here is a thread I started a while ago about trying to use HHO for boost but I'm not getting anywhere with that so I think I may be just gong for the MPG Bonus right now.
http://teamzx2.com/showthread.php?t=1756

Trust me on this one. One of these little Cells can actually improve your MPG. (I'm not trying to advertise so I'm not going to put any dealer's names on here or anything but a good friend of mine makes and sells them.)

[zxtwou2]

i ride a jackass to work.

yeah..and you are heavy, jerk!

[SoCalZX2]

I'm putting an HHO Cell in my car in like the next week or too. That will up my MPG by about %30-%40.
Here is a thread I started a while ago about trying to use HHO for boost but I'm not getting anywhere with that so I think I may be just gong for the MPG Bonus right now.
http://teamzx2.com/showthread.php?t=1756

Trust me on this one. One of these little Cells can actually improve your MPG. (I'm not trying to advertise so I'm not going to put any dealer's names on here or anything but a good friend of mine makes and sells them.)

I'd like to see some actual before / after data.

[Shadowen925]

I'd like to see some actual before / after data.

Deal. I'll ask him tomorrow when I go out there.

[morningstar2101]

i just plan on budgeting like a big kid

[Inlinedude2]

dam, after reading all these post i feel kinda bad. just a little bit. im not doin anything different mainly because my work is 5 mins away. and no matter wat i do i still only get 20-22 MPG. kinda sad since its a ZX2, but better than my buddies cars who get less than me.

[random_hero]

Nothing. I still drive like an asshole, shift at about 6,000 RPMS, launch at 3,000-4,000 RPMS, go for cruises with no real reason, do about 80 mph down the northway, and rev my engine at any car that may want to race for no real reason. AND I still enjoy complaining about how I'm getting raped at the pump as well

:)